My Life
by stargate6525
Summary: What if Mike had lied to Harvey about not having a degree because he knew Harvey would be more likely to hire him if he didn't have a degree than if he knew the truth. Now at the dinner with Jessica (beginning to season 2) she learns his secret. Will she tell Harvey? Rated T due to some mild cursing. Sequel now up.
1. Dinner Interrogation

**Giggles96 has not only agreed to beta all new chapters but also to go back and help with the old ones. My old chapters will be reposted periodically as they get done. No real hurry seeing as the basic story won't change. I do appreciate the assistance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own suits or any of the characters**

Changed Facts

1\. Mike does have a law degree, but he didn't tell Harvey. They met as the show had them meet. Mike didn't tell Harvey because he got the degree from Harvard without actually going to a single class; he tested out of all of his classes and had a degree by the time he was sixteen. The issue he faced was that no one wanted to hire a teenage lawyer so he was unable to find a job. When he met Harvey, he sized him up as a man who was more likely to hire a competent non-lawyer than a competent teenage lawyer.

2\. Mike's parents died when he was two and a half, and his grandmother was deemed unfit to raise him so he was placed in the system. Unfortunately, he didn't have all that much luck and was placed in three consecutive, abusive, foster homes before running away at seven. He lived on the streets until he was fourteen when he filed for emancipation, and then 'rented' a room from his grandmother while testing out of high school, pre-law, and then Harvard law - all on a scholarship because of his intelligence.

3\. He met Trevor in the same building and they became friends despite the age gap.

4\. Mike's grandmother fell ill when he was sixteen and he had to put her in a home, thus starting the LSAT test taking. As in the show, he had to move her to full time. This lead to the drug deal and meeting Harvey.

5\. Mike was 18 when Harvey hired him.

6\. Trevor didn't know that Mike tested out of Harvard, so he went to Jessica to tell Mike's "secret".

7\. Jessica took Mike out to dinner, but didn't buy the story he gave and called him on it then and there. That is where the story picks up and it goes from there and Mike cracks.

8\. I'm going to call this AU, but that's because I don't know all of the law and will most likely get it wrong. so if it's my little world then the law is what I like. I will be trying to stay on target.

Chapter 1

"That's bullshit," Jessica stated. She stared Mike down and enjoyed watching him squirm. "What's the real story?"

"What makes you think that's not the real story?" Mike asked nervously in a bid to stay calm. He had told Harvey that Jessica knew and Harvey had told him that it was just a dinner - that it was Jessica getting to know him because she was impressed by him.

Harvey had lied.

"Please. Don't treat me like a fool," Jessica scoffed. "I don't like that."

Mike gulped. He didn't like this. He hadn't wanted to tell anyone his secret. Even Harvey didn't know.

"I…"

"I know that you don't have a degree," Jessica said flatly, before casually remarking, "And I am telling you now that you're fired."

"What?!" Mike gasped. "You're firing me?!"

"Yes. I can't have an associate who doesn't have a law degree."

"I have a law degree," Mike maintained.

"I've checked you out, Mr. Ross," she revealed. "You are listed as having graduated from Harvard Law, but there is no record of you having attended any law school in the entire country."

"That's because I never actually went to a law school," Mike said firmly, with only a hint of exasperation. "But I did graduate from Harvard law."

"And how is that possible?" Jessica enquired.

Mike sighed, knowing that once he told her, she'd figure out the rest - the one thing that he'd been trying so hard to keep from everyone. He didn't want to tell her, but he saw no other choice in the matter. "I didn't go to the school. I tested out of it," he muttered. "All of it."

"You…" Jessica trailed off. He tested out? There was only one person who had ever tested out and Mike was too old to be that person.

Wasn't he?

Leaning back, she took a good long look at the person sitting across from her. He had his head down and was staring down morosely at his plate. Pushing his food around, (the vegetables, that is. They were the only thing left) his shoulders were slumped and she couldn't help but think that he looked rather… defeated.

"You're just a kid," she finally said.

Mike looked up at her. He really hadn't wanted her to know.

"Yeah," he admitted, before blurting, "Please, you can't tell Harvey!"

"You mean he doesn't know?" Jessica frowned.

"No. I never told him," Mike confessed.

"Why not?"

"Because no one wants to hire a teenager. When I met him, Harvey said he wanted a 'grown Goddamn man' and he wouldn't have hired me if he'd known I was only eighteen. Please, you can't tell him. Please," Mike implored with hugely dilated eyes.

"I can't promise that," Jessica responded. She looked at Mike again, easily seeing the eighteen year old boy that he was while he sat there, squirming in his seat and practically begging her not to inform Harvey of his true age.

"Please," Mike begged again.

"I'll think about it," Jessica allowed, "Now, about your real story."

She knew that what Mike had said was a lie, but was finding it difficult to wrap her head around. How could he have been lying to her all along?

Mike looked up at her with pleading eyes, but eventually relented, knowing that she wasn't one to give in

"My parents died when I was two and a half," he hesitantly began, "And I was put in the system. At seven, I ran off. Then later, I became emancipated after I turned fourteen, renting a room from my grandmother until she needed to go into a nursing home two years later."

Jessica sat back, taking in what she'd just been told.

Mike had seemed sincere when he was speaking, and she was one to know when someone was being untruthful. However, if that were correct, then he'd had a pretty hard life. Life in the system had to have been horrible for a kid to run away at the age of seven, and then not reappear on the map for another seven years.

She wasn't a fool - she understood what 'ran off' meant.

For seven years, Mike had lived on the streets.

He had to have been a tough kid to survive living on the streets of New York for so long, especially given his age. He could have gone to his grandmother, but that would have been the first place anybody would have looked, so it was highly doubtful.

"By ran off, you went to your grandmother?" she asked, just to be sure.

Mike looked back up at her, practically pleading with her not to make him answer, but she just stared him down, waiting.

"No," he said finally.

Jessica nodded. She had thought as much, but had wanted her suspicions validated.

"You never went to her?"

"No," Mike repeated.

"Then, where did you live?"

Mike watched her. She knew - he could tell.

"Why ask when you already know the answer?"

"You're not in a position to refuse to answer," Jessica coolly responded. "Unless, of course, you don't mind me tipping off Harvey..."

"So, if I answer your questions, you won't tell Harvey and you won't fire me?"

Jessica thought about it for a minute. She wasn't about to fire Mike so long as everything checked out when she got back to the office (which she already knew it would). Ultimately, she saw no reason not to go along with his request. If she really wanted Harvey to know, she could just tell Donna.

"Agreed," she said, nodding.

Mike sighed. At least his job was safe. That's all he wanted.

"I lived… wherever I could," he murmured.

Raising a brow, Jessica prodded, "Meaning?"

"Meaning, I lived in parks and alleys and abandoned buildings. Once in a while I'd stay in a shelter, but I couldn't do it too often because people tend to call the cops when they see kids at homeless shelters. There were many times during the winters that I would stay in different libraries. Those were the best," Mike said with a small smile appearing on his face.

He had really loved those times in the libraries curled up for hours - days, even - just reading.

"Libraries?" Jessica asked, curious.

"I like to read," Mike shrugged.

"Why?" Jessica wondered. Reading wasn't usually the top hobby of street kids; at least, she didn't think it was.

"Reading is a good escape," Mike explained. Jessica quirked her eyebrow at this and stayed silent, waiting for more of an explanation. He sighed. "When I was reading, I could fall into a different world. I could ignore the hunger, the cold, the pain - everything - and just focus on the story. I also read to learn. I spent an entire winter in the law library of a local college. I also read every history, science, math and English textbooks I could get my hands on. From reading different books and listening to audiotapes alone, I learned twelve separate languages. Reading…" He paused, giving a sheepish smile and finishing, "Reading helped."

Jessica stared at him. Well, in her opinion, that was a rather good reason to enjoy reading.

"How did you eat?" she then asked.

Mike looked down at that. "I panhandled some, went to some soup kitchens, though that couldn't happen much. As with the shelters, children don't want to be seen at one too often. I would check any vending machine or newspaper machines for spare change. Some people were kind and gave handouts. I also went through dumpsters." Mike sighed. Those were things that he was OK with, but… "I also stole when I had to," he continued, grimacing. "I went hungry a lot as well."

Jessica nodded. She had wanted to know if he'd be honest. Turned out, he would.

"Very well," she said, as she signalled the waiter to bring the check.

Mike looked up at her curiously.

"That's all you wanted?" he said in disbelief.

"Is there something else I should know?"

"No," Mike shook his head, "I just thought that you'd have more questions."

Most people wanted to know about why he ended up on the streets, but he was thankful that Jessica didn't.

"Alright then, I'll see you at work first thing tomorrow," she bid farewell as she paid the check and then headed out.

She had originally intended to make Mike handle the bill, but that was when she had believed he was lying. He wasn't lying now, and she wouldn't feel comfortable making him pay.

Mike stared after Jessica as she left. That had gone better than he'd assumed it would. With any luck, she would keep her promise and not tell Harvey anything.

Well, here's hoping, he thought, as he stood to leave.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.


	2. Three Days

Chapter 2

It has been three days since the dinner with Jessica, and Harvey was starting to calm down.

When Mike had first told him that Jessica had invited him to dinner, Harvey had freaked. He had thought for sure that Jessica had found out about Mike somehow. That night, he had waited around in her office so that he could talk to her and she had complimented Mike, saying that he was probably the best of both of them and that he was a good kid, showed real promise.

Hoping that Jessica hadn't been playing him, Harvey had left soon after. He had waited with baited breath the next day, but when he asked Mike, the boy had just said that they'd had a nice dinner.

After three days, it seemed as though he'd just been worried over nothing. It was time to drop the issue. He had other problems to worry about now, namely Daniel Hardman. Harvey and Jessica had gone to the funeral to see Hardman and neither believed that the man wasn't gunning for them.

Harvey had gone to the wake and threatened Hardman again, so with any luck, that would do the job.

Mike had been keeping away from Jessica the past few days.

At first, he'd been worried that Jessica would go back on her deal and that either she or Harvey would fire him, but so far nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He had been working hard to keep Jessica and Harvey happy, so that neither would have any reason to complain.

He had barely left the office in the past three days, other than for client meetings and quick stops at his apartment to shower and change. Since his dinner with Jessica, he hadn't even eaten properly. Somehow, Louis had found out about the dinner and he was riding Mike, shoveling more work on his than usual. Now Mike had to cope with that as well as Harvey's work and solving this issue with the lawsuit that was holding up the merger.

He's yet to have time to grab more than a quick snack and something to drink. He used to order out when he had to work over night, but Louis had complained a few months ago that Mike was ordering out too much - three to four times a week apparently wasn't allowed - and had banned Mike from doing so unless it was on his own dime.

Mike did have money, but not enough to be spending it on take out every night - not while having to pay rent on his apartment, his utilities, his grandmothers nursing home, health and dental insurance, apartment insurance, bicycle insurance and his grocery bills. He… was a bit strapped at the moment.

Funny that when he finally has the money for comforts such as having a roof over his head and food in his cupboard, he doesn't have the time to enjoy it or even go grocery shopping. Life was cruel sometimes.

Mike was getting tired, but he knew that he needed to keep going. Louis wasn't about to let up and Harvey had his loyalty, so Mike wouldn't allow himself to let up. He also wasn't about to make Harvey look bad by screwing up this issue with the merger.

Not only that, but Mike knew that he couldn't let Jessica think he was unable to handle the work he was given. If so, then Jessica would regret not firing the teenager that her hotshot senior partner had hired on a whim and under false pretenses.

Looking down at his pile of work, Mike sighed, he was gonna be here a while, but he didn't have the time to work on it now. Now, he had a meeting with his grandmother and he wasn't about to reschedule on her again.

Jessica had come back to her office the night of her dinner with Mike only to find Harvey Specter waiting there for her. She really wasn't surprised. After all, she _had_ trained him.

Still, she wasn't thrilled either.

Leaving out the kid's age, she had told him that she liked the boy, that he was the perfect combination of both of them and she had meant it. She hadn't seen the need to tell Harvey, so she didn't, but that didn't mean Jessica didn't verify Mike's story.

It all checked out.

Once she had been certain that Mike was actually telling the truth, she had seen no reason to pursue the issue further and had pushed it out of her mind - focusing, instead, on Daniel Hardman.

Now, however, Harvey had assured her that he had taken care of Hardman, which left Jessica time to turn her attention back to one Mike Ross.

Throughout the day, she had been watching him and, despite herself, she had become slightly concerned about what she saw. As far as she could tell, Mike hadn't eaten anything all day. He had, however, consumed mass quantities of Red Bull. That couldn't be healthy.

She also noticed the bags that seemed to be forming under Mike's eyes. They were becoming somewhat noticeable and she knew that if he didn't get some sleep soon, even the self-centered clients would start asking questions.

Jessica took the time to look up security footage for the past few nights and noticed that the last time that Mike hadn't worked throughout the night was the same evening that she had taken him to dinner. Yet there were no charges to the company account for takeout and she never seen him eating on any of the security footage.

She also noticed that the kid always had rather sizable piles of folders on his desk whilst the other associates seemed to be working on only one or two at a time.

All of her observations only seemed to trouble her more. She knew that Mike was, legally, an adult. However, that didn't seem to ease her worries when she put all of the information together.

It was troubling to see just how thin Mike really was, but she also knew that Mike has probably been underweight for years, given his childhood.

Speaking of his childhood, Jessica couldn't help but wonder if Mike was up to date on all of his vaccinations. She doubted it, considering that most homeless children aren't known for keeping their medical records accurate. Well, the yearly physicals were almost here, so she would just push Mike's ahead a few weeks - no big problem there.

With her plan in mind, Jessica scheduled a doctor's appointment for Mike and cleared her schedule for that time as well. She didn't trust him to put off going, given that he was not used to doing so and thus, it was highly unlikely that he would view such a thing necessary.

Mike was rather pleased with himself when he got back to the firm that afternoon.

He had gone to meet his grandmother and then, inspired by their conversation, he was able to solve the issue with the merger, which meant that Harvey could now finish it up. Having one item off his plate was a good feeling.

He was smiling as he told Harvey that he had completed his assigned task and was enjoying hearing that his boss was pleased with his work. However, that was all destroyed when they both turned the corner and walked right in on Hardman's speech saying that he was coming back to the firm.

Harvey's smile had dropped then and Mike stepped to the side. He was curious as to what was going on and he wanted to find out, but he also knew better than to stand right next to Harvey when he saw Hardman and Jessica walk towards him.

Mike figured that if he stood out of the way then he would go unnoticed, but would still be able to listen in.

His plan worked.

Once Hardman, Jessica and Harvey were done talking, Hardman and Harvey walked/stormed off, leaving only himself and Jessica in the room together.

Mike kept his head down as he tried to back further into the shadows of the room in the hope that Jessica wouldn't see him and just leave. This time, his luck didn't hold out.

"I know you're there and have been the whole time," Jessica said, turning to face Mike.

Mike sighed and stepped forward.

"Well, it was worth a try," he shrugged.

Watching him, Jessica couldn't help but think how childlike that action was. She wondered if she would have seen that as a child's action before, or if it was just that now she knew that Mike was in fact a child causing such thoughts. In truth, she'd been paying much more attention to Mike and had noticed many childish attributes - maybe it was psychosomatic.

"We have an appointment," she stated simply, before turning around and walking out of the room, knowing that Mike would follow.

"What appointment?" Mike asked, confused. He didn't remember receiving any sort of memo about this from Jessica or anyone else.

He also didn't remember hearing about any sort of meetings with Jessica and the other associates, so what could this be about?

Jessica smirked at Mike's question.

Originally, she had planned to tell Mike about his appointment before they left. However, when thinking it through, she realized that given Mike's lack of medical history, the boy was less likely to willingly go to the doctor's. After all, that was why she'd planned to go with him.

It would be much better to keep him in the dark until they arrived.

"The one I made for us," she replied simply.

Mike was confused, but thought better of arguing. It wouldn't do him any good to anger Jessica Pearson. Not when she knew of his secrets and was the one who basically held his future at the firm in her hands.

No, he would go along for now. At least until he knew more.

Sighing, he got into the back seat of her limo, knowing that if Louis found out about this, he would have even more work to do.


	3. Doctors Appointment

Chapter 3

Mike was staring out the window trying to decipher where they were going, but all he could come up with was the Richmond Group doctor offices.

Mike knew that they were clients, but he was unaware that they were having legal issues at the moment. As far as he knew, there was nothing going on with them, certainly nothing that warranted Jessica Pearson's attention. He was curious, but since he could think of no other logical reason to be going there, it had to be that they needed legal advice of some kind.

When the car stopped, Jessica was surprised to see that Mike got out willingly. She had thought that he would put up a fight once he saw where they were. She was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't going to have to drag or threaten the boy to get him to see the doctors. She had made the appointment ahead of time and these weren't the type to keep someone like Jessica Pearson waiting, so when they got there, a nurse immediately greeted them.

"Hello. Dr. Richards is all set, if you'll please follow me," the nurse said and started leading them back towards the examination rooms.

Mike couldn't help but think how strange this felt, but he pushed it aside. Apparently, it was Dr. Richards who was having the legal issues so it might be malpractice. He kept debating over what it could be that Dr. Richards had done wrong and didn't actually stop to notice where they were going until he heard a door shut. Looking up, he saw that the nurse had left and that he and Jessica were standing in what looked to be an examination room.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

Jessica glanced over at him.

Mike had brought his messenger bag in with him and was looking around the room in confusion. "What did you think we were doing here?" she asked.

Mike stopped looking around and faced Jessica.

"Aren't we here to meet with a client?" he asked.

Suddenly Mike's lack of argument made sense. He hadn't argued about going to the doctor because he hadn't known he was going for a check-up. Well, it was time to break the news. At least they were in a private area.

"We are here for your annual physical."

Mike stopped. "My what?" he asked.

"Every employee at Pearson Hardman must have a physical every year. Yours is going to occur a little earlier than the rest," she said.

"OK … and why are you here?" he asked. If a physical was required, Mike would put up with it - to a point. His basic plan was to go through the least bit required and then if there's a problem, he could just.. adjust the results before he turned it in.

"I'm here to make sure that I get the real results," Jessica said. She knew Mike wouldn't give her the truth if it wasn't all a perfect score. The kid was too scared to admit a fault when he was already worried about being fired because of his age.

Mike was a bit stunned.

He hadn't thought that Jessica would guess his basic idea so quickly. He wanted to get rid of her, but before he got the chance to speak again, Dr. Richards walked into the room.

"Good afternoon," Dr. Richards greeted. "Now I see that were here for…Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross, you wouldn't happen to have your previous medical records or perhaps the name of your previous doctor, would you?" he asked.

Mike shook his head no. In truth, he never remembered having gone to the doctors before. Perhaps his parents had taken him, which he had no way of knowing, but he doubted it.

His parents had been dirt poor, scraping together what they could just to put a little food on the table. His three sets of foster parents hadn't taken him - one didn't typically take the child that they were regularly abusing in for a check-up. He definitely hadn't gone while he was living on the streets lest he be taken back into social services. He hadn't gone since being emancipated because he hadn't had the money, so as far as he knew, he'd never been.

"Mr. Ross," Jessica said, irritated.

"I don't have one," Mike said, turning to Jessica.

"Never?" Dr. Richards asked.

"Never," Mike confirmed.

"Did you ever have any routine vaccinations?" Dr. Richards asked again.

"No," Mike answered. What was with this guy?

Dr. Richards looked over to Jessica. "Is this right?" he asked.

Jessica had been debating this issue with herself. Could it be possible that Mike had never gone to the doctors? She had guessed that he hadn't gone since he was seven, but on further evaluation, she was coming to believe that Mike had literally never gone.

"Yes," she said. "That's why I brought him to you. You used to be a pediatrician and you will know what vaccinations he needs."

Mike balked at this.

He was already irritated that they were talking about him as though he weren't there but had ignored that when Jessica had agreed with him. Dr. Richards being a pediatrician, however, wasn't something he was going to stay silent about.

"Pediatrician!" he exclaimed.

"Former pediatrician," Jessica corrected immediately.

"Forget it," Mike said as he turned to walk out.

"Mr. Ross," Jessica called, almost ordered. Mike stopped and turned to look at her. "You need to have this physical or you can't work for the firm. You didn't have a doctor on record that we could schedule an appointment with, so one was picked for you. Dr. Richards is now your primary physician, so you have two choices: get your physical or quit."

Mike glared at her. Not wanting to get fired, he ground out, "Fine," and came back to the center of the room, away from the door.

"Well, glad that's settled," Dr. Richards said. "Now, it appears that we currently have your entire medical information, your name and age, so why don't we add height and weight to that list?"

Mike swallowed at that, but nodded his agreement. He would have to leave the room to get weighed so Jessica wouldn't witness it and that was a good thing. He knew that he was underweight but he was trying. It just wasn't easy. He'd never exactly had enough to eat and, to be truthful, Mike wasn't certain what it even felt like to be full - his body had stopped telling him when it was hungry years ago.

"Good," Dr. Richards said. "If you'll take off your shoes, tie and dress coat, we can get started."

Mike did as asked and then he was led out of the room and down the hall. His height was taken first and he proved to be right around six feet.

"Alright, up on the scale now," Dr. Richards remarked.

"Is that really necessary?" Mike asked.

Dr. Richards looked at him. Jessica had told him that the kid would probably try to get out of things, but he hadn't guessed this would be one of them.

"Yes," he said, then gestured to the scale again.

Mike sighed, but got on the scale. He closed his eyes and put his head down when he heard the sharp intake of breath behind him.

"110," was all Dr. Richards said as he wrote down the results. "OK, we can go back to the room now."

Mike quickly got off the scale and followed the man back to the examination room. He was dismayed to see that Jessica was still there when they returned. "You don't have to stay," he said.

"I already told you I was," she replied simply. She had found a seat and made herself comfortable while they had been gone.

"Very well," Dr. Richards said. "Now, if you would please remove your shirt and hop up on the table."

Mike looked over at Jessica, hoping that she would get up and leave, but knowing that it was just a fantasy. She knew that he wouldn't tell her the truth and she wasn't going to budge.

Reluctantly, he unbuttoned his dress shirt and put it with the rest of his clothes, then got up onto the table.

"Under shirt too, Mr. Ross," Dr. Richardson requested.

"Is that really necessary?" he asked.

"Yes," Jessica answered.

Mike huffed when Jessica spoke up. He wished she would stay out of it. He did, however, shrug out of his shirt and once again, looked down as he heard two rather sharp gasps.

Jessica hadn't been expecting it to be this bad; she'd known that Mike would be a bit underweight, however, she hadn't planned on being able to count his ribs.

"When did this happen?" Dr. Richards asked as he gently prodded the scratch on Mike's left arm.

Mike flinched away from the doctor's touch.

"What?" Jessica asked as she came around to look as well.

"It's nothing," Mike said quickly.

"It needs stitches," Dr. Richards told him, stepping away and calling for a nurse to bring disinfectant, suture equipment and a tetanus shot.

"It doesn't need stitches, it's just a little scratch," Mike argued.

"When did you get this?" Jessica asked. It looked fresh, which meant that it had happened recently.

Mike looked down, not planning on answering, but a warning from Jessica soon had him saying, "Yesterday, I was down in the records room and I slipped." In truth, he had been feeling a little dizzy and when he had reached up to grab a box, he had fallen off the chair that he had been balancing on, scraping his arm again the side of one of the racks as he did so.

"Slipped on what?" Jessica asked. She wasn't stupid - no way had this cut come from simply slipping.

"Off a.. uh, a chair," Mike answered.

"You slipped while you were sitting?" Dr. Richards asked.

"Not exactly," Mike hedged.

"Were there no step stools available?" Jessica asked sarcastically.

Mike shrugged. "No, actually. There's only one down there and it was being used in the other room."

"That will be fixed," Jessica assured. She hadn't known, but she wasn't big on her employees injuring themselves because she wouldn't spring for a few extra step stools.

The nurse came with the required items at this point, and Dr. Richards walked over to Mike, starting to clean the wound.

Mike jerked away from Dr. Richards. He didn't know exactly what the man was doing, but he didn't like it.

"Hold still, son," Dr. Richards said as he gently grabbed his arm and once again started to clean it. He was used to dealing with unhappy children and this wasn't all that different.

Mike tried to get his arm back but each time he pulled Dr. Richards' grip just tightened. It didn't take long before the wound was cleaned and Dr. Richards was bringing a needle up to his arm.

"What's that for?" Mike asked nervously as he tried more desperately to get away.

"I need to numb your arm so that I can sew you up," Dr. Richards explained.

"Sew me up!" Mike exclaimed. "Forget it." He renewed his attempts to pull away, but he soon felt a small prick in the back of his neck. It wasn't long after that everything started fading out.

Mike came around about two and a half hours later.

Hearing voices nearby, he kept his eyes closed. It was something he had learned when he was little - if people thought that you were asleep, they tended to speak openly about you while in hearing range. It took a moment until he recognized the voices as Jessica and Dr. Richards.

"So, what are the results?" Jessica asked.

Dr. Richards sighed. "His arm is slightly infected. He should have had it looked at as soon as it happened, but given his upbringing, I'm not surprised that he kept it to himself. I gave him what boosters I could. He still needs quite a few more, but they have to occur at set intervals. As far as I can tell, Mike's missed all of them, so we had to start at the beginning. He will need antibiotics for his arm, here's the prescription," he said, tearing off a slip and handing it to Jessica. "My biggest concern for him is his weight. At the very least, a healthy weight is 140 pounds. However, Mike only weighs 110 pounds. He needs to put on some weight or I'll have to admit him into the hospital and start feeding him through a tube, and I don't want to do that."

Jessica looked over at Mike. "How does he go about doing that?" she asked.

"He needs to eat more. My best guess is that he doesn't eat now because he doesn't know that he's hungry. If what you'd told me is true, then Mike hasn't ever had the opportunity to feed himself properly. Most likely, he ate whatever scraps he could come across. His body learned that he wasn't going to do anything about the pain it was sending to say that he was hungry so it stopped sending the messages now Mike doesn't know when he needs to eat he just works through it," he explained.

"The best thing you can do is keep snacks around him at all times so that he has the option, as well as reminding him to eat both the snacks and regular meals. You also need to make sure that he eats healthy foods. Not saying that junk food is banned, but he also needs to eat his fruits and vegetables. I'm also going to give him a prescription for a strong vitamin pill; it's an alternative to an intravenous drip. This needs to be taken daily, preferably along with breakfast. Also, make sure that the boy sleeps. He looks exhausted."

With that, Dr. Richards tore off another prescription and gathered his things. "I want to see him back in two weeks for his next round of shots and to check his arm and weight."

"Thank you," Jessica said.

As soon as Dr. Richards left the room, Mike turned opened his eyes and sat up.

"He drugged me," he grumbled.

"Yes," Jessica said. Mike hadn't asked as much as stated, but still, she felt the need to answer him. "Get dressed and we'll head out."

"This was a waste of time," Mike said as he gathered his clothes and started to put them on.

"This was necessary," she countered. "I know you heard what Dr. Richards said, so please don't try and talk your way out of this. Your arm could have been seriously infected if we hadn't caught it, and your weight is just about to land you in the hospital."

"I've never had an issue tending to my own injuries before and my weight has been improving lately, so I fail to see the issue there," Mike said as he finished tying his shoes.

"If thirty pounds underweight is improvement, then I should have required this a long time ago," Jessica said as she led the way out of the examination room. "Now, I will send the driver to get your prescriptions filled while we're eating."

"Eating?" Mike asked as the walked out of the building and towards the car.

"Yes, eating. It's 5:30 in the evening, it's time for dinner," Jessica said.

"I don't have time to get dinner. I have to work on the merger paperwork for Harvey and finish up the redundancy paperwork as well as the stack of briefs for Louis. This had already taken up way too much time," Mike complained as he climbed into the car and buckled in.

Jessica turned to face him. "I do believe that I am the boss, so if there are any scheduling issues, I will settle them," she said. "Now, about all of this work that you have for Louis?"

Mike swallowed. He hadn't meant to say all of that. Still a little groggy, he decided that he would blame it on the sedative he was given. "What about it?" he asked.

"We'll be discussing it over dinner," Jessica said, turning and telling the driver where to go.


	4. The Deal Proposed

Chapter 4

The driver stopped outside of a fancy restaurant and let Jessica and Mike out before heading off to fill the prescriptions. Mike was still hoping to talk Jessica out of making him stay and eat but she was heading into the restaurant before he had the chance so he followed. They were seated immediately and were brought waters and menus before they were left alone.

"I really don't have time for this," Mike said as he placed the menu he'd been handed down on the table in front of him.

Jessica looked up from her own menu. "You don't have time to eat?" she asked.

"No, I don't have time to eat out," Mike answered.

"Then what is it that you were planning to do for dinner before I brought you here?"

Mike looked at her. In truth, he hadn't even thought about eating. He wasn't hungry, but he also knew that he couldn't tell Jessica that. For some reason, Jessica was being rather obsessive about his health today. "I can always grab something from the hotdog cart outside the office," he said, coming up with a last minute idea.

"No," was all Jessica said before turning her attention back to the menu.

"What, wh…" Mike started, but was interrupted when a waiter showed up to take their orders.

Jessica looked over at Mike quickly, before telling the waiter what she would like and ordering a glass of wine. She then ordered the chicken with carrots and corn/pea mix and a glass of sprite for Mike. She knew that he wasn't old enough to drink so the wine was out, and the doctor had said that he needed to sleep so caffeine was out, but she hadn't wanted to embarrass him by ordering milk or juice, so a decaffeinated soda was the last option and sprite was the first one that she saw.

"I can order for myself," Mike said, irritated. He had been planning on ordering the smallest bowl of soup possible since he was certain he could afford it and that it wouldn't be too difficult to pretend to eat it.

"You hadn't even looked at the menu," Jessica said.

"I saw it last time I was here."

"You've been here before?" Jessica asked disbelievingly.

"Rachael brought me here when we were looking for places for my rookie dinner," Mike explained.

Rachael… that was another thing she would have to talk to Mike about. "That was months ago," Jessica said.

"And?" Mike asked, not seeing the importance.

"And you haven't seen the menu in months. How can you know what's on it?"

Mike smirked at this, then started to repeat exactly what was on the menu in order. Looking rather astonished, Jessica stopped him after a couple of minutes.

"You memorized the menu?" she asked.

"I read the menu," Mike answered.

"You remembered all of that from just reading through the menu?"

"I remember everything I read," Mike said.

Now Jessica understood.

Mike had an eidetic, or photographic, or whatever you were going to call it memory. No wonder the kid tested out of Harvard Law without actually having to go to a single class.

"Impressive," she said. "Now, let's get back to the topic at hand - your eating plans. When was the last time that you ate?" she asked.

Mike's smirk fell. He'd been hoping to get them off of this topic permanently; it didn't work. "Um…" What was the last thing that he ate? He'd worked through lunch; he hadn't had time to get breakfast when he was at his place to shower and change. He had missed dinner the night before, but he did find an apple in the break room. Yep, that was it. He'd eaten the night before. "Last night," he answered.

"Last night?" Jessica asked irritated.

"Yes," Mike answered hesitantly. He could guess by the look on Jessica's face that it had been the wrong answer.

"And what is it that you ate?"

"Um…" Mike wasn't so sure he should tell her the truth, however, she's proven that she isn't easily duped and he wasn't sure he should lie to her either. Which would be worse - lying or telling the truth? If he told the truth, she'd be mad but if he lied and got caught, she'd be pissed. "I had an apple," he said hesitantly.

The food came at this point and they both stopped talking until the waiter left. Once he was gone, Jessica waited for Mike to start eating, but the boy made no move to even pick up his silverware.

"Eat," she said.

"I'm not a child," Mike answered. This was all becoming a bit much. Jessica had ignored him the past three days and he had taken it as a sign that she would forget about their conversation. Clearly, he'd been wrong but he wasn't going to let this continue.

"You haven't eaten all day," she said.

"I've eaten when I'm hungry. You need to stop this."

"Stop what?"

"Treating me like a child. You've never done it before."

Jessica put down her own silverware and looked up at him. "You've never given me reason to before," she responded.

"I've been doing nothing out of the ordinary for me. The only difference between now and this time last week, is that now you know my actual age," Mike said.

Jessica stared at him, thinking over what he'd said. He was right.

He hadn't changed. However, she was treating him differently. Maybe she should think this over. She had told herself that she wasn't doing anything different, but obviously she was.

This wasn't the plan. She had no desire to chase Mike off. He was the best associate at the firm hands down, however, he was also the youngest, and she wasn't sure how much affect that should have on how she treated him.

The doctor had said that he wasn't taking proper care of himself, so she knew she had good reason to be a little more forceful about this. However, Mike didn't see it like that. Maybe she should give him the opportunity to come around himself. "Alright, you may have a point," she acquiesced.

"Thank you," Mike said.

"I said might," Jessica said. "I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" he asked skeptically.

"The kind where you will either agree or I'll tell Donna, who'll then tell Harvey all about your secret," Jessica said.

Mike huffed and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair and pouting.

He didn't like that agreement. Jessica had said that she wouldn't tell Harvey - he hadn't thought about her telling Donna.

Jessica took Mike's pouting for an acceptance. "I will give you two weeks, barring anything happening. Two weeks to take care of yourself and go about your normal routine without any interference. When we go back to the doctor's and you've improved, I'll leave you alone. However, if you stay the same or diminish, then you will have to obey my rules until the doctor says that you're one hundred percent."

Mike thought over Jessica's offer. He didn't like it, but he didn't really have much of an option other than to accept her proposition. "Fine," he ground out.

"Good, now eat your dinner. This isn't an option since you haven't eaten all day. Our agreement starts when we get to the office tomorrow," she said.

Mike huffed once again, but started eating. He got about two thirds of the way through, before he really couldn't eat anymore. He was starting to feel funny, like his stomach was getting a little heavy, and he always stopped eating when that happened. He put down his silverware.

Jessica looked up when Mike pushed his plate away. "There's still more," she said.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Mike grumbled.

"Are you full?" Jessica asked.

"Full?" Mike questioned.

Jessica looked shocked at that answer. Was he really asking?

"Yes, full. Have you ever been full before?" she asked.

Mike got a bit uncomfortable at the question. "Yes," he answered.

"Why do you think you aren't hungry?"

"Because my stomach's starting to get heavy," Mike answered.

"That's what's supposed to happen when you start to fill your stomach. You aren't full yet, so just keep eating," Jessica said, pushing the plate back in front of him.

Mike glared at the food, but did start eating again.

It took a little while, and a lot of prodding from Jessica, but eventually Mike did finish the entire plate and for the first time in his life, he understood what it meant to fell full. It wasn't a bad felling but it was… different.

Jessica paid the bill and they headed out of the restaurant and back into the car. "Home," was all she said to the driver when they got in.

"I take it, I'm being let out along the way?" Mike asked although he had a bad feeling he already knew the answer.

"The doctor said you need rest and I said our deal doesn't start until the start of the workday tomorrow," Jessica said. "I don't trust you not to head right into the office once I drop you off, so you'll be sleeping in my guest room."

Mike groaned and slouched back into the seat, pouting once again. He didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do either. He was really looking forward to tomorrow.

They made it to Jessica's at a decent hour and she led him right back to the guest room after sending her driver to Mike's apartment to pick him up some night clothes and a suit for tomorrow.

Mike looked around the room. It was simply furnished with a queen sized bed, a dresser, a desk and a couple of end tables. The furniture was nicer than anything he'd ever seen - heck, it was much nicer than the rollaway bed he slept on. As far as he could remember, it would actually be the first real bed he'd ever slept on.

He reached out hesitantly and touched the bed - it felt nice. He'd bet it was warm too.

"I know it's early but the doctor said that you needed to sleep, so I want you to shower and go to bed once my driver returns with your things," she said. Jessica then handed Mike a small pill and a glass of water.

"What's this?" he asked, not taking the offered items.

"Your antibiotic pill. It needs to be taken twice a day either along with or after a meal," Jessica explained, once again holding the pill and water out for Mike to take.

He took the pill and swallowed it, then finished up the glass of water. He felt as though he should argue with Jessica about going to bed, but his stomach felt a little heavy and he was actually tired. In his opinion, it wasn't really a fight worth having.

The driver returned twenty minutes later with Mike's things and he went to take a shower. Once Mike was out of the room, the driver handed the pictures over to Jessica, having been told to take them while he was there.

Jessica saw that it was a one-room apartment. The kitchen/living room looked empty aside from a fold out plastic table and two foldout lawn chairs. The cupboards were almost empty with the exception of a box of ramen noodles - yeah, because that was a healthy and filling meal. The fridge had a pack of red bull and a bag of apples that was almost empty. The bathroom looked like every other bathroom, nothing special there.

The bedroom had a stack of library books next to a foldout bed with what looked to be threadbare blankets and a pillow. Well, Jessica suddenly felt so much better about her decision to keep Mike here for the night.

Mike finished up his shower quickly. The warm water had been wonderful (the water heater for his apartment had been busted since he moved in) but he hadn't wanted to push his luck. He headed to the bedroom and stood staring at the bed. Slowly, he reached out and pushed down on it, but he jerked his hand back when he heard Jessica behind him.

"It's not going to bite you know," she said.

"Yeah," Mike said noncommittally as he turned to face Jessica.

Jessica walked forward and pulled the comforter and sheets down. "Bed," she ordered.

"Yeah, I was just about to," Mike said.

Jessica stood back and waited for Mike to get into the bed, but he just stood there uncertainly. "You need to actually lay down on the mattress," she said.

"Yeah," Mike said. He was a little nervous to be honest. He'd never slept on a bed before. Not that his grandmother hadn't offered to give him the bed, but she was elderly and needed it more. He wasn't so sure about telling Jessica that he'd never used a bed before. She was already on him enough as it was.

Jessica watched Mike. His expression was the same as it had been when she had asked him if he had ever been full before. His answer had been no. She was starting to get a bad feeling.

"Have you ever slept in a bed before?" she asked.

Mike looked over at her, a little nervous. "N..n..no" he said.

Jessica laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's rather comfortable," she said. "You'll like it."

Mike looked at her sceptically, but complied and got into the bed, pulling the blankets up to his chest. The bed was really soft and he couldn't help it when he felt himself quickly falling asleep. He was warm and full and comfortable, and it was all a new feeling but it was a nice one. Before he had a chance to think this through, he was already asleep.

Jessica couldn't help but smile as she looked down at Mike. He looked so young and innocent lying there.

She pulled the covers up to his chin and then left the room, turning off the lights and leaving Mike until morning. As she shut the door, a small tear fell down her face. That poor boy's life had been miserable so far.

Hopefully, that would soon change.


	5. A Week

Chapter 5

The next morning came all too soon for Mike's liking.

The bed was so much better than he would have ever guessed it would be, and the comforter and blankets just made it that much better. Unfortunately, there was only so long he could ignore someone trying to shake him awake, no matter how gently they were doing it.

"Go away," he mumbled, turning over away from the unwanted intruder.

Jessica smirked at the childlike comment. "Come on, Mike, it's time to get up," she said softly, shaking him. She hated to get Mike up. The boy needed to sleep, but he had to be at work soon and she knew he'd be mad if he missed.

Eventually, Mike acquiesced and opened his eyes. It was then that he remembered exactly where he was. He shot up, looking around the room and saw Jessica standing beside the bed smirking slightly. Yep, it hadn't been a dream. "Sorry," he said quickly.

"What are you sorry for?" Jessica asked.

Mike got out of the bed and headed for the closet where he'd hung his suit the night before. "For lying in," he said.

"It's alright. There's some toast for you in the kitchen as well as your medicine. Don't forget to take the bottles with you. My driver will be here to take you to work in forty-five minutes. I would bring you with me, but I have an early meeting," Jessica said as she headed out the door.

Mike nodded and looked at the carpet. As soon as the door was shut, he got dressed. When he walked out to the kitchen, he found the toast, but he just wasn't hungry so he threw it away. He put the pills back in the containers and put them in his bag. He then headed out and started walking to work.

The next week went by quickly. Once he got to the office, he was chewed out by Harvey for missing work and not getting the assigned work done. As punishment, he was given a mound of work to complete. Louis had been the same.

For the past week, Mike had been working harder than he ever had and the funny thing was, he thought that it couldn't be any worse than last week. Oh, how wrong things could be.

Mike had been working himself ragged.

For the past two days, he hadn't gone home and he was looking at day three. He was so glad he kept extra suits at the office, but his supply was running low.

It had also been a week since the doctor appointment. It was funny. That first night of freedom, he had tried to sleep on his cot, but it just felt wrong, uncomfortable, _hard_. He laid for hours trying to sleep until he decided that he might as well work if he wasn't gonna sleep. He'd gotten no more than two solid hours of sleep since and a total of ten hours for the entire week.

Although he hadn't been eating like the doctor said, he was eating at least once a day which was better than he'd been before, so he figured that he had to be improving - thus winning the deal. Mike thought that he was doing real well until he had to practically run to the bathroom.

Donna had been a bit worried about Mike lately. It just seemed like the kid was getting worse and worse by the day. She was about to go and check to see if he'd eaten lunch when she saw him running to the bathroom. There were retching sounds that followed and Donna walked in to check on him.

"Mike," she called.

"Ohhh," Mike groaned. He was still retching but it was no more than dry heaves at this point.

"Oh Mike," Donna said. She laid her hand on Mike's back, but the boy jerked away violently. Still, Donna could feel that he was warm to the touch. "Alright, let's get you to Harvey," she said, hauling him up.

"No," Mike protested, yanking himself out of Donna's loose grasp. He was sick and he knew it, but if he went to Harvey, Jessica might find out and if she found out, Mike was screwed.

"Wasn't a suggestion, kiddo," Donna said as she took a firmer grasp on Mike's arm. "Now, let's go," she said as she started dragging Mike out of the bathroom and towards Harvey's office.

"I'm fine, Donna," Mike said as he tried to steer himself towards his cubicle, but he wasn't strong enough to get away from Donna or her desired destination.

Harvey looked up when Donna came into his office with - a rather irritated - Mike in tow.

"What's this?" he asked. He had been ignoring Mike most of the week after he had bailed on him during the middle of a merger and then offered no explanation for his absence when he returned. He'd had his hands full with Hardman and completing the merger, and hadn't even seen Mike these last few days.

"Sit," Donna ordered as she pushed him towards the couch. Mike sent her a glare but complied. Then, turning to Harvey, she pointed at him and said, "You and Louis have been working that boy way too hard and he's finally caught some type of virus because he's had insufficient time to take care of himself. I warned you about this a few days ago, Harvey. You should have given the kid a day off, but instead, you gave him more work and now he's sick. Fix it," she said.

Starting to turn to leave, she ran right into Jessica.

"Harvey, I need to talk to you about…" Jessica said as she came into Harvey's office. She stopped when she noticed something moving on Harvey's couch. When she turned, she wasn't all that surprised to see Mike sitting there. However, she became somewhat agitated when she noticed that Mike was flushed and slouched over a bit.

Mike straightened some when he saw Jessica in the office. He was so screwed.

Jessica turned to Mike and watched him a bit more - the boy was definitely sick. She crossed her arms and moved to stand in front of Mike. "It only took a week," she said.

Mike groaned and leaned back on the couch. Yep, he was screwed.

Harvey stood up and he and Donna joined the party. "A week for what?" he asked.

Jessica turned to Donna, however, and said, "I think that we should all head out of the office and talk. I'll have my driver bring the car around. Meet you downstairs in five minutes." With that, she headed out of the office.

Once Jessica had left, Harvey turned to Mike. "What's going on?" he asked.

Mike put his head in his hands. "The end of my life as I know it," he answered.

"Well, I want to find out, so I'm going to get Rachael to cover me and then the three of us are going to head down to the lobby," Donna said as she walked out to find her friend.

It didn't take long for Donna to return to collect Harvey and Mike.

Harvey had been trying to get answers from an uncooperative Mike with no success. Donna walked over and yanked Mike up, before once again grabbing his arm and starting to drag him towards the elevator with Harvey following.

When the trio exited the building, they stepped right into the waiting car and joined Jessica. As soon as all were seated and buckled, Jessica reached over and put her hand on Mike's forehead. Mike tried to jerk back, but there was only so much space in a crowded back seat. "You have a fever," Jessica said.

Mike shrugged in response. He knew he had a fever, but he wasn't about to admit it and dig himself a deeper hole.

Jessica reached over once again. Only this time, she yanked down his jacket arm and touched his left arm right where the cut was. Mike jerked away violently. "Have you been taking your antibiotics?" she asked.

"His what?" Harvey interrupted. Since when did Mike need antibiotics?

"I got busy," Mike answered.

"I'll get you an appointment with Dr. Richards tomorrow morning," Jessica said.

"No," Mike protested, "I'll be fine, I can just clean it out. I know how I've done it before."

"You're going," Jessica said.

"What's going on?" Harvey asked again, but once again, he was ignored.

They arrived at Jessica's house a few seconds later and the four piled out. Jessica instructed the driver to run a few errands for her and then went and unlocked the door. Once they were all in the apartment, Jessica turned to Mike. "Your nightclothes are in the spare bedroom. Go change and then get to bed," she instructed.

"I have work to do," Mike complained. "I don't have time to go to sleep. Not to mention, it's only ten in the morning."

"Go," Jessica ordered.

"No," Mike said.

"You lost the deal. You now get to follow my rules and right now, you are going to get some sleep," Jessica said. "With any luck, we can get you in to see Dr. Richards later today."

"But.." Mike started.

"This is not a debate. Go to bed," Jessica said in a tone that promised consequences if he argued. Mike put his head down and stomped down to the spare room to get changed. Once he was done, he sat down on the floor. He wasn't going to go to sleep.

Jessica watched Mike stomp off and couldn't help but think how much he was acting like a kid. Well, that really came with the age, didn't it? She knew that she should have kept a better eye on the boy during the week, but Hardman had been posing a problem and she had gotten distracted. That couldn't happen again, especially now that she had basically made herself responsible for the boy.

This was going to be tough, but she could handle it. She turned back towards the other two people in the room who had been watching the scene unfold - yeah, they wanted answers.

Once Harvey saw that he had Jessica's attention, he asked, "What's going on here?"

"I can't tell you," Jessica said.

"Then why did you ask me to come along?" Harvey asked, annoyed.

"Because I never agreed that you wouldn't be in the room while I was discussing the topic," Jessica explained.

"That's where I come in, I take it?" Donna asked, starting to understand.

"Exactly," Jessica said, smirking. "Now, why don't we all sit down so that Donna and I can talk?"

All three found themselves seating in the living room while Jessica started to tell Donna - with Harvey listening in- the entire story. When she had finished informing Donna of why Mike had jerked away when she touched his arm, (his cut was infected) she stopped talking and sat back, waiting for the barrage of questions that she knew were going to come.

"So he lied about having a degree just to get hired?" Harvey asked, a bit confused. Why say you don't have a degree and then ask to be hired as a lawyer?

"He read you really well," Donna said, smirking.

"What do you mean?" Harvey asked.

"He knew you well enough to know that you'd rather have a competent person with no degree than a teenager with a degree," Donna answered.

"How do you know that I wouldn't have hired him if he'd told the truth?" Harvey asked, a bit affronted.

"You wouldn't have," both women answered simultaneously.

Harvey opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a desperate scream from the other room. All three were up and running towards the sound.

Mike was startled awake by the sound of the bedroom door banging open and three people running in. "What's wrong?" Harvey asked immediately, looking around the room for what could have possibly caused Mike's scream.

"No…no..nothing" Mike stammered out. This was embarrassing. Harvey, Jessica and Donna had all barged into his room because he'd had a nightmare and couldn't keep quiet - just great.

Donna knelt down to where Mike was on the floor and put her hand on his shoulder. "You OK?" she asked.

"Yeah," Mike answered as he nodded his head.

Jessica and Harvey came over to Mike as well once they realized what had happened. "Want to tell us about it?" Donna asked.

"No!" Mike said automatically as he got up off the floor. He must have fallen asleep while sitting there he realized.

Donna was going to question him further but there was a knock at the front door. "I'll be right back," Jessica said.

Jessica went to the door and found not only her driver, but Dr. Richards as well. Looks like her driver had been able to accomplish everything on the list.

"Hello, thank you for coming," she said politely as she stepped aside to let them in. Dr. Richards walked into the living room and waited while the driver brought in a duffle bag and a suit bag, laying them both in the entryway, then heading out.

One the driver was gone, Jessica turned to Dr. Richards and lead him towards the spare bedroom where Mike was still refusing to tell Harvey or Donna what he had been dreaming about that was so bad.

"Hello, Mr. Ross," Dr. Richards greeted as he came into the room carrying a medical bag.

A little confused, Mike looked over at Dr. Richards. How had Jessica managed to get him here? He didn't think that doctors still made house calls but when you're Jessica Pearson they probably do.

"Hi," he said.

"So, Mrs. Pearson says that your arm is worse. Have you been taking your antibiotics?" he asked.

"Been busy," Mike shrugged.

"So that's a no, then?" Dr. Richards said more than asked. "Alright, let me take a look. Take your shirt off and sit down on the bed," he instructed.

"I'm fine," Mike said as he remained standing.

"Mike," Harvey said in warning.

Mike looked over at Harvey. From the way he was standing and the tone he'd just used, the one that is typically used to warn little kids when they're on thin ice, Mike could tell that Harvey knew his secret.

He was oh so screwed.

"Fine," Mike ground out as he yanked his shirt off and dropped down on the bed, crossing his arms and pouting.

Dr. Richards smirked. Looking around at the other people in the room, it was clear Mike was in for a tough time with the three 'adults' ganging up on him but it was for the best. "Good. Now, this may hurt but I need you to remain still while I look you over," he said as he knelt down by Mike.

Dr. Richards prodded around Mike's wound and then he checked his temperature, - it was elevated - and then he listened to his lungs, which sounded clear. Once he was done, he dressed Mike's wound and then put his things away. "Alright, you may put your shirt back on now," he said.

Mike did so gratefully. He hadn't missed the gasps Harvey and Donna had let out when they had seen his chest. Most likely to do with his weight, he was sure. He also hadn't missed the looks all three of them had shared when they had seen the scars on his back. Jessica had missed the scars the first time, but now all three of them had seen. Great.

"So?" Mike asked.

"So, that little infection you had has grown and is the cause of your fever and I would also guess nausea."

"I'm not nauseous," Mike replied immediately.

"You threw up in the bathroom at work," Donna said, "So nausea is a safe addition."

Mike glared at her but didn't argue. She was right, so what else could he say?

"As I was saying," Dr. Richards started again, sending Mike a pointed look as though to say that he didn't want to be interrupted again, "Your infection has spread and made you sick. You should be kept off work for at least three days, if not five."

"Three days!" Mike interrupted, shocked.

"And," Dr. Richards said, talking over Mike and continuing, "You need to take the antibiotics that I gave you until the bottle is empty. You have lost some weight and I will tell you now, you are approximately five pound away from being admitted to the hospital, so this needs to stop. Otherwise, I will see you next week for your shots."

Dr. Richards turned to Jessica. "His arm needs to be redressed every four to five hours for the next two weeks and when you do so, you need to rub this on." He handed her a tube of cream. "Don't be stingy. If you need a refill, just call, and I will inform the pharmacy to have one ready for you. Take off the dressing when he showers and then put a new one on after."

And with that, Dr. Richards gathered his things and walked out of the house, back to the car that was to take him to work.

Once he'd left Jessica turned to Mike. "Want to tell me why you were sleeping on the floor and not the bed?" she asked.

Mike looked up at her and gulped. "Not really," he said meekly.

"We'll be discussing it later. For now, I want you to get some actual sleep," Jessica said as she pulled the covers on the bed back and gestured for Mike to get in.

Mike looked pleadingly around the room but received no support other than three identical gestures to get into the bed, so he huffed but climbed under the covers and pulled them up.

"Now, I will wake you in a couple of hours for dinner. Until then, I expect you to sleep," she informed him.

"I'm not staying off work for three days," Mike told her.

"We'll discuss it later, Mike," Harvey said as he flipped off the lights and shut the door, leaving Mike alone in the room.

Mike really didn't want to go back to sleep, but the bed was soft and warm and he actually was tired. Soon, his body had made the decision for him and he was out.


	6. Responsibility

Chapter 6

Harvey, Jessica, and Donna all walked back into the living room. They were all still reeling from what they had seen and heard and what they needed to do now. They sat in their original spots all lost in their own thoughts.

It was Harvey who broke the silence. "I'll take Mike back to my place once he gets up," Harvey said.

"No, Mike's staying here, in the guest room," Jessica said. She had told Mike that he would be following her rules, she had taken Mike to the doctor, and she had been the one to learn the truth. Mike was her responsibility and he was staying with her.

"He's my associate. I appreciate everything that you've done, but he's my responsibility," Harvey said.

"No. He's my employee, my youngest employee. I told him what would happen if he didn't take care of himself better and he didn't listen to me, so he is my responsibility," Jessica said.

Harvey and Jessica were all set to continue arguing over the topic but they were interrupted by Donna's laughter. "Something funny?" Harvey asked, annoyed at the interruption.

"The two of you," Donna said.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked, annoyed as well.

"Two weeks ago neither one of you would have given Mike's living arrangements a thought and yet here you two are, arguing over whose place he's going to stay," Donna said.

"Two weeks ago we thought that he was a normal healthy twenty-seven year old associate. Now, we know that he's an underweight, exhausted, previously abused, eighteen-year-old associate," Harvey said.

"Exactly, and now you two are arguing over custody of said boy who, as far as I can tell, has never lived under anyone's roof other than three abusive sets of foster parents and an elderly grandmother, who was barely able to keep him and herself from starving, let alone monitor the comings and goings of a teenage boy," Donna said.

"What's your point?" Harvey asked, confused.

"My point, Harvey, is that you and Jessica are going to lay down rules for Mike, someone who has never had rules that he's had to follow, and you are expecting him to follow them without a fight," Donna explained.

"All he's done so far is put up slight arguments and then do as told," Jessica said.

"He's also been exhausted, starving and in pain. What will happen when he's had enough sleep, enough to eat and has healed from his infection?" Donna asked.

Both Harvey and Jessica were quiet here.

They didn't know the answer to the question, but Donna did have a point. So far they'd been dealing with an unhealthy Mike, but what will happen when he becomes healthy again?

"So what do you propose?" Jessica asked Donna.

Donna sat back and observed the two of them; they looked like new parents rather than co-workers.

"I think that it will be best to focus on the next week for now and then we can come back and discuss the issue further," Donna said.

"And what is so special about this week?" Harvey asked.

"The fact that Mike will have to be kept off work," Donna said.

"What about it?" Harvey asked. "He'll stay here during the day, big deal."

"Wrong, Harvey, it is a big deal. Mike has already shown that he doesn't want to be off of work at all and the way that you and Louis treat him when he messes up a deadline is good reason for him not to want to miss any," Donna said.

"What do you mean the way Harvey and Louis treat him?" Jessica asked.

"They load him down with paperwork. After he left mysteriously last week and then refused to say where he went, the next day both of them gave him so much work that I rarely saw him away from his desk. He practically lived off red bull," Donna said.

Jessica looked over at Harvey pointedly. She had known there was something up with Louis and had planned to talk to Mike about it last week before they had struck their deal, but she hadn't. She regretted that now. "I'll handle Louis," Jessica assured.

"I won't overload him for this," Harvey said.

"Good. Now, Mike still isn't going to like this. He will find a way to work if he's left here alone up to his own devices. The boy is a genius, literally; he will find a way to get what he wants if he isn't being watched. You can't just leave him here alone and expect him to do as you say - not yet, at least. You will either have to take turns watching him here or at the office," Donna said.

Harvey and Jessica looked at each other. Neither could afford to be out of the office for part of the day and they knew it, which meant that Mike would have to come to work with them, but he wouldn't be allowed to do any work. Yeah, that was going to go over well.

"What do you suggest?" Harvey asked.

Donna sat back and thought for a few minutes. "You don't have much of a choice. You have to take him to the office with you, but you can't let him work. He needs to rest. I would suggest bringing lots of books, puzzles, maybe a Gameboy or something would be appropriate. One thing that you don't want to give him is a computer, laptop, tablet, anything with internet access, because he will find some way to get his work done, I guarantee you that," Donna said.

"So he's just supposed to sit in the office at his desk?" Jessica asked.

"No, he'll be in one of our offices at all times," Harvey said.

"That'll take some scheduling, but we can pull it off," Jessica agreed.

"Exactly," Donna said, glad that they were finally getting it. "Now, obviously there will be drinks and snacks available at all times, but he will also need to take naps throughout the day because I guarantee that Mike hasn't had more than twelve hours sleep during the past week and that's just this week, let alone the rest of the time he's been at the firm. He's the best associate and that comes with a lot of late nights. Also, he shouldn't wear a suit because it will only make it harder for him to come to terms with the fact that he's not there to work," Donna finished.

"Alright. We can do all of those things," Harvey said. "So, who wants to go over to Mike's place and gather his things?" he asked.

"I've already sent my driver. Mike's bag is in the entryway," Jessica said as she stood and headed over to grab the bag.

Jessica brought the bag into the living room and all three of them started to sort through it. They left the suit bag alone. It was obvious what was in there. The duffle bag, however, was filled with Mike's every day clothes. No one was too surprised to see that Mike's clothes were as threadbare as his blanket.

"Well these just simply won't do," Donna said as she picked through the clothes.

"No, these are so worn I'm surprised that they're even holding together still," Harvey said.

"These won't work especially with winter coming," Jessica agreed.

"Well, that's alright. I can take his shopping for new ones," Donna said excitedly. She did love to go shopping.

"I can take him," Jessica said.

"That's alright, I can do it," Donna said.

"No, he's my responsibility. I'll take him," Jessica said.

Now it was Harvey who was laughing. "You two are seriously shopping over who can take Mike to go shopping?" he asked.

"Yes," they both said.

"Why are you arguing over who will get to take a teenage boy clothes shopping when he won't want to go and will make it difficult for whoever takes him?" Harvey asks.

"Because all we'll be doing is picking clothes and then seeing if they fit, you'll be the one to get him to cooperate," Donna said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Harvey asked. "When did I sign up for that?"

"When you said that Mike was also your responsibility," Jessica answered.

"Oh, just great," Harvey said sarcastically.

Donna looked over at the clock. "Tell you what, why don't we get snacks for everyone, take Mike shopping and then stop at a restaurant for dinner? When we get back, Mike can shower and go to bed. Harvey and I can then head out and meet you at work tomorrow," Donna suggested.

Harvey and Jessica consented, then Jessica fixed a snack while Harvey went to wake Mike up.

Harvey entered the guest bedroom and turned on the light. As soon as the light came on, Mike groaned and turned his head away, covering it with the comforter as well. Harvey chuckled at Mike's reaction and went over to pull the covers off, shaking his shoulder gently.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Mike was up and walking into the kitchen.

"Sleep well?" Donna asked.

Mike glared at her and slumped down into a chair still rubbing sleep from his eyes. "He didn't want to get up," Harvey said.

"And yet he didn't want to go to sleep," Jessica said as she laid a plate of grapes, a sliced banana, and a sliced apple in front of Mike. "Eat up," she said.

Mike looked at the food. There wasn't much and he liked all the items on the plate, so he ate the food without complaint. When he was finished, Jessica took the plate away and Donna handed Mike the least worn clothes he had, telling him to go change.

Once he was ready, they all headed out. Mike was annoyed when no one would tell him where they were going.


	7. Shopping

Chapter 7

Donna just couldn't believe it.

How had she managed to miss the fact that Mike was just a kid? She always knew the secrets and the gossip and yet somehow, Mike had pulled one over on her. How was that possible?

Not only that, but how had she not noticed that Mike was that skinny? I mean, really, his age was one thing (the suits helped to hide how old he really was) but his weight should have been rather obvious, shouldn't it? How was Mike able to keep everyone fooled for so long? Well, it really didn't matter now. All that mattered was that Mike wasn't going to fool her any longer.

Jessica and Donna were sitting with their heads together working on some kind of a list, while Mike was pestering Harvey, and everyone, as to where they were headed. Harvey was about to snap and just tell Mike to shut up and leave it, but thankfully, Donna spoke up before that. "OK, so we need to get about four-five pairs of jeans, ten long-sleeve shirts, three sweaters, underpants, socks, a coat, a winter coat, and some shoes," she said, reading off of the list. "Oh, and we also need to get some books, board games, and a Gameboy with games," she finished.

"What are we getting all that for?" Mike asked.

"For you," Jessica answered.

"Me?!" Mike exclaimed. "I already have clothes!"

"You call those clothes?" Harvey asked sarcastically. "They won't last another month. Winter's coming and you need something sturdier."

"My clothes are fine. I just bought three shirts two weeks ago," Mike argued.

"Where did you buy them? A thrift store?" Jessica asked. None of Mike's shirts looked as though they were only three years old, let alone two weeks.

Mike looked down at Jessica's question - that was exactly where he had bought the shirts. It was where he'd always gone when he needed clothes. They had the best clothes available for what he could afford. How was he supposed to buy all that they were listing? He just didn't have the money. "So," he said when they all kept staring at him, waiting for his answer.

"Well, we aren't going to the thrift store today. We're going to the mall," Donna said.

"No," Mike said.

"And why not?" Harvey asked.

"Because," Mike answered.

"That's not an answer, Mike," Jessica said.

Mike was becoming irritated with these three. They were becoming rather domineering. "Because I can't afford it," he said loudly, not shouting but not at a regular voice, either.

"Who said you were paying?" Donna asked.

"What?" Mike asked, confused.

"Seriously, look at what you buy. There's no way we're letting you choose the clothes. No, you're not buying anything," Donna explained.

"Oh," Mike said, "I thought you said the list was for me?" he asked.

"It is," Harvey said.

"Then.. you do expect me to buy the clothes," Mike said.

"No, we're buying you the clothes," Jessica replied.

"No," Mike stated. "I don't need you to buy my clothes for me. I may not have a lot, but I can clothe myself."

"OK, this is not a, _'do you want to?' _This is a_, 'you're going to,'_" Harvey said.

"We don't expect you to buy the clothes, because they aren't the type of thing that you usually wear; they're what we want you to wear. We decide the clothes, so therefore, we pay," Jessica said.

Mike looked between all three of them. They were all staring at him with looks as though to say, 'We're in charge' and, 'you'll do what we say.' He didn't like it, but he just didn't have the energy to argue with all of them, so he slumped back and pouted. He was becoming good at this.

It took a bit longer but soon, all three of them were heading into the local mall, Jessica and Donna heading straight to one of the nicer clothing stores. Mike was expecting them to head to the men's section, however, they went directly to the boys section. What the hell?

Donna and Jessica had discussed in the car where they were going to start and after having thought it through, they decided that the boy's section would be the best place. Mike was a teenager and he was extremely underweight. In fact, having seen him in regular clothing, the boy could easily pass for a tall fourteen year old, so adult clothing just wasn't going to work. They guessed that Mike wouldn't like it, but he needed clothes that would fit him.

"Where are we going?" Mike asked.

"The boy's section," Donna answered as she started walking through looking at the jeans first. "Here, hold still," she said as she held a pair up to Mike.

Mike jerked back. "Why are we here? I'm an adult, we should be in the adult's section," he said.

"You are a child and a thin one, at that," Jessica said, coming over with her own pair of jeans. "Hold still," she said as she held the pair up against Mike to test for size.

Mike tried to jerk back again, but Harvey was behind him holding him still. "Just let them do this. You know you won't win and it'll only take longer the more you fight it," he said.

Mike glared at all of them, but acquiesced and let them put different jeans and shirts up to him to guess for sizes. He kept looking around in case he came across anyone from work, planning to hide and let the three of them come up with their own reason for being there. After about thirty minutes, both Jessica and Donna had placed quite a few things in the cart and they started to head towards the dressing rooms.

"Come on," Donna said to Mike.

"Where are we going now?" Mike asked.

"To the dressing rooms to get your exact sizes," Jessica answered.

"Isn't that what you were just doing?" Mike asked.

"We were only seeing where you might fall. Now we are seeing exactly what size you wear," Donna explained as though it were obvious.

"I'm not trying anything on. This was your stupid idea, you figure it out without my help," Mike said.

Harvey came up, grabbed Mike's arm and started dragging him into the changing room. Once Mike was in the room, Harvey grabbed the jeans being handed out and then joined Mike. "Put these on," Harvey said, grabbing a pair at random.

"No," Mike stated.

"Mike, we've discussed this. You can do it now or you can fight us and then do it, but either way, you will be trying on these clothes," Harvey reasoned.

Mike huffed. He hated this, but he didn't really have much of a choice - that was obvious. He took the pants and then waited for Harvey to leave, but he didn't. "Go," Mike said.

"I leave and you lock the door and refuse to come out," Harvey said.

Mike huffed again, but he knew that Harvey was right - that had been his plan. Damn, the man knew him well. He waited a few more seconds and then took off his pants and put on the ones that Harvey gave him.

"Good," Harvey said.

When he had the pants on, Harvey ushered him out of the dressing room so that Jessica and Donna could see how they fit. Donna started pulling at the pants and it was obvious that they were far too loose. "Which one's are these?" she asked.

"One of the one's you handed us," Harvey said.

Jessica sighed and pulled at the back to see the tag. Mike hated all the touching, but there wasn't much he could do about it. "It's the eighteen and it looks as though the straps are pulled in most of the way," Jessica said.

"What straps?" Harvey asked.

"There are elastic straps that can take the jeans in, or let them out some, in every pair of pants that I've given you," Jessica explained.

"Oh," Harvey said.

"Try the sixteen's and take the straps in to the third hole," Donna instructed as she shooed them back into the changing room.

Harvey played with the pants until he found the size he was told, and adjusted them as instructed. Mike put them on and then they went back out for inspection.

"About time," Donna said.

"I couldn't find the straps," Harvey defended.

"These seem to work," Jessica said as she pulled at the pants to see how they fit.

"I agree, sixteen seems to work. They are on strap three, right, Harvey?" Donna asked.

"Yes, they're on strap three," Harvey said. This was ridiculous. He didn't need to be here; he had no idea about this stuff.

"Here, try on these shirts," Jessica said handing them some.

"Fine," Harvey said as he took Mike back into the room.

As Harvey was getting Mike into one of the shirts, Jessica and Donna went through the cart removing all pants that were bigger or smaller than sixteens. When they were done, they had two pairs of khaki, one pair of black and three pairs of blue jeans, including the one Mike was wearing.

Mike and Harvey came out of the dressing room a few minutes later.

Harvey handed over the jeans, and then Donna and Jessica looked over the shirt. Eventually, they agreed that a large was the appropriate size. Once sizes were established, Mike changed back into all of his clothes, and then they went through the shirts that were available.

Mike didn't mind the solid color shirts or the striped ones, so they grabbed a navy blue and dark green shirts, as well as a blue and black striped one, and a green and black stripped one. They also got a couple of polo shirts of different solid colors. The issue came when looking at the shirts with the designs on them.

Mike didn't want a child's shirt because he wasn't a child. However, Jessica and Donna kept holding up different Dr. Who, Spiderman, Mine Craft, Star Wars, and many other types of shirts with different designs on them. Mike stoutly refused all of these shirts. He wasn't a child and he didn't want to wear shirts that screamed child.

Jessica and Donna were willing to give some, but they did end up getting a Dr. Who t-shit exclaiming that bowties are cool and an A-Team shirt with the logo on it with a few fake bullet holes drawn in it, but otherwise, Mike was absolutely against whatever they suggested.

Eventually, they had enough shirts (mainly more solid colors). After the affair with the pants and the shirts was over, the rest was relatively simple. They got Mike twelve packs of solid color underpants, fifteen pairs of socks, three solid color sweaters (all with hoods), a thick jacket for every day and a good winter jacket for when it started to snow.

The next task was faced when it came to shoes. Mike desperately needed a new pair, but he didn't see it that way. After all, he had spent years breaking them in and they were extremely comfortable.

It wasn't until Donna showed him that there wasn't even a half an inch of the shoe between his foot and the ground that Mike finally agreed to look for new ones. He had to admit, he was a bit nervous about getting new shoes. He'd never had new one's straight from the store before.

It took a good half hour before they had found a pair that all agreed upon, Mike having gone for the cheapest and Donna and Jessica the most sensible. Guess who won.

They were about to call it all done when Jessica remembered that Mike needed some nightclothes. That was the start of yet another battle. The nightclothes in the boy's section were similar to the shirts. Mike, Donna and Jessica spent over twenty minutes arguing over what to get and eventually, they settled on a set that had no writing on it. It was blue and gray and it came with a toy car attached to it.

Once all of the clothes were finally bought, Mike, Jessica and Donna left the store. Mike looked around for Harvey, but he didn't see the man. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Harvey since they were done in the dressing rooms.

"Where's Harvey?" he asked.

"He went to get some other things on the list," Donna answered.

"Oh," Mike said. He hadn't known that there were other items to get, but since they clearly didn't involve him, - or if they did no one was going to inform him anyway - he was just glad that he didn't have to be there for more shopping.

They all got into the car when it pulled up, the driver taking the shopping bags and putting them in the trunk. Mike slid in next to Harvey, and Jessica and Donna came in after. "To the restaurant," Jessica said once the driver got in.

They all walked into the restaurant and sat down. They were all handed menus and water and this time Mike did look through the menu. "Didn't memorize this one then?" Jessica asked looking over at Mike.

"I've never been here before," Mike said, shrugging. "Just give me ten minutes and I'll be able to recite it to you, if you want," he smirked.

"That's alright," Harvey said sarcastically, smirking as well. He already knew about Mike's memory, but it seems that Mike had been showing off a bit to Jessica with restaurant menus.

"So what are you planning on having?" Jessica asked Mike.

Mike glared at her, but answered, "Soup."

"No," Jessica said.

"What?" Mike asked, annoyed.

"The soup isn't filling enough," Harvey told him.

"Why not try the Chicken Alfredo?" Donna suggested.

"I'm not that hungry," Mike said.

"We'll get you the half portion then," Donna said as the waiter came to take their orders.

It wasn't long before the food came, and Mike was glaring down at his chicken alfredo and sprite. He had tried to order a Coke, but everyone had nixed that, saying that he didn't need caffeine since he'd be going to bed not long after they got back.

Mike once again tried to stop half way through, however, it was a half hearted attempt at best. He honestly hadn't minded that full feeling and it had helped him sleep, so it wasn't such a bad idea to be full again, he figured.

Getting home and having Mike shower and change was the easy part. He didn't mind getting into a hot shower or his nightclothes, especially since Jessica said that they would be going away in the morning, much to Mike's annoyance. The issue started when Harvey tried to dress Mike's arm and have him take his antibiotics.

"Get off me," Mike said as Harvey started to spread cream on his cut.

"Hold still," Harvey said as he grabbed Mike's arm to keep it in place.

"I don't want that on me," Mike said, trying to get away.

"I don't care if you want this on or not. The doctor said it was required, so it will be put on," Harvey said, gripping Mike's arm harder as he finished with the cream. Harvey put the large band-aid on, followed by an ace wrap. "Done," he said, letting Mike go.

"Finally," Mike said, yanking away from Harvey.

Harvey grabbed a glass of water and the pill, and held them out to Mike. "Take it," he ordered.

"I don't need it," Mike argued.

"Right, you don't need the antibiotics. It's not like the infection got worse after you refused to take the antibiotics the first time around," Harvey said sarcastically. "Now take them," he ordered once again.

Mike glared at him for a few minutes. They stayed there, holding a staring contest, until, eventually, Mike just felt too tired to argue and took the pill. It didn't take much after that to get Mike into bed and asleep for the night.

Once Mike was down, Harvey and Donna headed out for the evening to catch up on what work they missed and then to go home themselves. They were going to need a lot of rest if they were going to keep up with an irritated Mike tomorrow.

Thankfully, Mike hadn't brought up work, although they suspected that it had something to do with him making his own plans on how to go behind their backs.

Jessica did the laundry, before going to bed herself. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	8. Going to the Office

Chapter 8

Mike woke up to an incessant beeping that just wouldn't stop.

He groaned. He knew what that was. It was the alarm on his watch. He'd set it the night before to go off at 5am so that he could get out of here before Jessica woke up.

Mike rolled over in the bed, hating the fact that he had to get out. Despite how annoying this has all been, he would definitely miss the bed - it was nice. Groaning once more, he sat up and pushed the covers off, eventually putting his feet on the floor and heading to the closet where he'd stashed his suit the day before.

He became angry when the suit wasn't there. He searched the entire room only to find that the only clothing was what he was currently wearing. They were good, but that didn't mean he couldn't go back to his apartment and get a suit. All he needed was a paperclip in order to pick the lock on his front door, or he could just climb up the fire escape and use the window. His childhood had taught him that it was best to have multiple ways in and out of someplace, and how to pick a lock or two.

Having made his decision, Mike opened the bedroom door and headed for the exit, fully prepared to start the annoyingly long walk back to his place and debating on whether or not he should try to scam a ride on a bus or the subway. He was so lost in thought that he almost ran into Jessica, who was standing at the end of the hall with her arms crossed. "You should be in bed," she said sternly.

Mike jumped. "What the hell are you doing up?" he asked.

"Language," Jessica said automatically. She looked at Mike. He looked so young standing there in his nightclothes, hair tossed from sleep and rubbing his fist in his eyes partially to wake up and partially because he was still rather tired. Once again, Jessica wondered how they could have missed the truth for so long when it was staring them in the face everyday.

"I can't believe Harvey was right," she said, laughing to herself.

Harvey had insisted that Mike would try to leave early as to sneak to the office while Donna had said that he'd leave as soon as he thought Jessica was asleep after Donna and Harvey had left. Jessica had thought that Mike would leave in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, she had slept on the couch. She was surprised and annoyed that Harvey was right; she now owed him a hundred bucks.

"Right about what?" Mike asked.

"You," Jessica answered. "Well, since you're up, we might as well redress your shoulder and then get ready for the day," she sighed as she started walking towards the kitchen where Harvey had left the material the night before.

"My arm is fine," Mike said. "Where are my clothes?"

Jessica turned to him. "Your arm needs to be cleaned and redressed and your clothes are where I put them," she said.

"I want my clothes and I don't need my arm cleaned!" Mike said, stomping his foot as he ended.

Jessica wasn't in the mood to argue, so she walked over grabbed Mike's arm and dragged him into the kitchen, thrusting him down into a chair. "Stay here," Jessica ordered.

Mike was tempted to get up. He was really in a mood this morning and he couldn't quite figure out why. However, one look at Jessica's face told him that there'd be hell to pay, so he crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair.

When Jessica had gathered the items, she turned back to see Mike pouting. That look was becoming all too familiar on him, she thought.

"Alright, let's get this over with," she said as she unwrapped Mike's arm.

Mike held still until Jessica started to touch his cut. It was painful and his automatic response to pain was to move away from what was causing it. Mike jerked when Jessica started to apply the cream, trying to get up off the chair, but Jessica grabbed his arm and held him still. "Hold still, Mike," she said.

Mike jerked again and Jessica tightened her grip. "I can't help it. My natural reaction is to avoid pain, not sit still and let it happen," he said.

"I know and I'm sorry, but you need this. It needs to be done," Jessica said as she finished with the cream and started to rewrap it. "All done," she said a little bit later.

Mike sighed with relief when Jessica finally let go of his arm. "Now, where's my clothes?" he asked.

"You'll get them after breakfast," Jessica answered as she turned to the counter and started to make some toast. She wanted a simple breakfast knowing that Mike would argue anything and at least toast was quick to make and eat.

"I'm not hungry," Mike said as he made to stand up, only to have Jessica push him back down into his chair and then finish up with the toast. Mike huffed, but sat still.

Jessica brought over a plate with two pieces of buttered toast, a cup of orange juice, the antibiotic pill and the vitamin pill. Mike glared at the food and crossed his arms in the typical 'you can't make me' gesture that all kids seem to know oh-so-well. "You need to eat everything, then we can get dressed and head into the office," she said.

"The office," Mike repeated, sitting up straight. He had been sure that Harvey, Jessica and Donna would refuse to let him go anywhere near the office for the next three days and yet, Jessica said all he had to do was finish the food he was given. He could do that.

Mike quickly ate the toast, drank the juice and even took the pills without contest. He wanted to get to work as soon as possible so that he could start on the mound of work that he was sure would be on his desk.

"Done. Now, where are my clothes?" he asked.

Jessica chuckled. She had known Mike would misinterpret what she'd said, but that was his doing so she wasn't at fault here. She walked out of the kitchen and came back a few minutes later holding a pair of blue jeans, a solid dark green shirt, socks, underpants, the basic coat (not the winter one) and the shoes that they had bought yesterday. "Here," she said, holding them out to Mike.

Mike looked at the clothes, confused. "Since when did we have casual Wednesdays at the office?" he asked.

"We don't," Jessica answered.

"Then where's my suit?" he asked.

"You don't need your suit," Jessica answered.

"If I'm going to work, then I need my suit," Mike pointed out.

"You're not going to work."

"You said that when I was done eating we would dress and then head to work," Mike argued.

"No, I said we would head to the office. You're not going to be working."

"That's not fair!" Mike exclaimed.

"That's the way it is," Jessica answered.

"I'm not going to the office if I'm not working," Mike said.

"You're going," was all Jessica said. She turned and headed out herself, knowing that she'd securely locked all the doors and set the alarm so Mike wouldn't even be able to open a window without her knowing.

"We're leaving in thirty minutes whether you're dressed or not," she called over her shoulder as she went into her room.

"That's not fair," Mike called after her, but he received no reply. He looked around the house for a way out, but Jessica had locked the door and he had noticed the alarm when he first came here. He needed the code or he was screwed. Looking at the clock, he saw that he had ten minutes left so he hurried to get dressed. No matter what he did, it would be easier when he was wearing clothes that weren't meant to be slept in.

Mike stepped out of the spare room and headed directly for the door. Now that he was dressed and had shoes on his feet, it would be a lot easier getting back to his place. He still had five minutes before it was time to go, so he was hoping that Jessica was still getting ready. He was disappointed to see that she was waiting for him by the front door.

"Good timing," Jessica said as she turned to see Mike walking over.

Mike slumped he shoulders. "Yeah, I'm known for my timing," he said sarcastically. In the back of his mind, he knew that it wasn't the best idea to mouth off to the owner of the firm he works, but he just couldn't help it. He seemed to be working off a short fuse this morning.

"Let's go," Jessica said as she headed out the door, then waited for Mike to go through so that she could lock up. "Head to the car. I'll be there in a minute," she instructed, waiting for Mike to walk off before she put in the alarm code.

Mike huffed, but did as told. He should have known she'd figure that one out.

It wasn't long before they were walking into the office. Mike felt out of place in jeans and a shirt. It was as though with his suit gone, his disguise was too. The only thing that Mike was grateful for was that it was only 6:30 in the morning and there wasn't anybody else in. As soon as the hit their floor, Mike got off and started heading towards his desk, but a hand on his arm stopped him. "What?" he asked, annoyed as he turned to look at Jessica.

"I've already told you, you're not working," Jessica said.

"Then what is it that I'm supposed to do? Sit at my desk and twiddle my thumbs while everyone around me is working? And then when they ask, I can say that I'm not allowed to work, but I'm being forced to sit at my desk by Jessica Pearson herself because she's gone mental?" Mike snapped.

It wasn't the cleverest comeback he'd ever had, but he just wasn't up to it and he knew that Jessica wasn't a big fan of the associates making fun of her.

"You will lose the attitude and then follow me into my office where you will be staying," Jessica said as she tightened her grip on Mike's arm and pulled him over to her office. When they got in the office, Jessica brought Mike over to the couch and pushed him down. "You will be staying in either my office or Harvey's throughout the day. You are to be sleeping and relaxing for the next three days and then we will start with half days until the doctor gives you a clean bill of health to work," Jessica said.

Mike glared up at her. "And this won't seem strange to anyone because?" he asked.

"I don't care what others think. You are ill, you've still got a slight fever and you are the one that I am concerned about," Jessica said as she moved over towards her desk.

"And what am I supposed to do all day?" Mike asked snarkily.

"I have many things for you to do," Donna said happily as she walked into Jessica's office with Harvey in tow. Both were carrying bags of things. Jessica had called them after she had headed into her room to get dressed to let them know that Harvey was right, Mike was up and they would be heading into the office soon.

"You owe me a hundred," Harvey said to Jessica, holding his hand out.

Jessica retrieved the amount from her purse and gave it to Harvey, annoyed. "You know your vote really shouldn't count since you know the boy best," she said.

"Don't be a sore loser," Harvey said.

"A sore loser about what?" Mike asked.

"Doesn't matter," Donna said as she reached into the bags that she and Harvey had set down on the coffee table. "Come see what I brought you to do," she said happily.

"And what is that?" Mike asked snarkily. He really wasn't in the best of moods and the last thing he wanted to do was sit around while everyone else was working. It wouldn't look good and just dig him in deeper with the other associates who were upset that he was chosen by Harvey Specter.

Donna choose to ignore Mike's attitude for now. She had nieces and nephews herself and knew how irritable they could become when they were tired, hungry or ill, and since Mike was all three of those things, she was willing to cut him some slack. "I have all sorts of things for your amusement while you are convalescing," she said as she started to pull items out of the bags. "We have numerous books, the entire Harry Potter series, all of the 39 Clues series, the first, second and what's out of the third. We have ender's game and ender's shadow, as well as the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series," Donna said holding up each set as she spoke.

"Those are all kid's books," Mike protested.

"Have you ever read them?" Donna asked.

"No," Mike growled, slouching down in his seat and crossing his arms. He was also pouting, but he would never admit it.

"That's what I thought. You'll enjoy them, though," Donna said. "Now, I know that one can't spend **all** day reading, so I also have some video games, there's a Nintendo DS along with ten games - oh, but don't worry. There's no internet access on this one. It's one of the older ones," Donna said, having seen how Mike perked up upon the mention of electronics. "Wouldn't want to give you any way to disobey us and try to sneak some work in," she said.

Mike went back to pouting at that. What good was all of this if he was just going to be drowned in work in three days time?

"I also have a few other electronic games for you. There's Yahtzee, Battleship, connect four, a racing game and a space invaders game," Donna said, pulling all of those out of the bag. "Lastly, we have a DVD player - no internet access, of course - along with a whole bunch of movies. I'm not going to name them all, but I'll tell you that there are some really good ones here, so you just enjoy," Donna said. When she was finished, she put some of the books and movies and games into one bag and then left the rest on the desk.

"Now, there's a DVD player and DS in each office and there will be different games, movies and books available in each as well, so that you won't get bored. If there is a particular series you want to read and the book you need is in the office you aren't, just say so and we'll get it," Donna said happily as she put the bag aside.

"Goodie," Mike said sarcastically. So far everything Donna had shown him were for children, not adults, and he wasn't interested in being treated like a child.

"There will also be snacks available to you at all time," Harvey said, starting to pull things out of his own bag. "There are fruit gummies, apples, bananas, rice krispie treats, granola bars, fruit by the foot, gushers and fruit roll-ups," Harvey listed as he pulled each item out and set them down. "There's also drinks available. We have Capri-sun, apple juice, grape juice, strawberry kiwi juice, and water," Harvey said as he finished emptying the bag.

Donna moved forward to put some of each drink in the little fridge in Jessica's office and then put the rest to the side. She also put some of each snack in a bowl and then put the rest along with the extra drinks.

"The same options are in Harvey's office," she told him once she was done.

"Great," Mike said, again sarcastically. This just sucked. It really, really sucked and from what he could tell, there was nothing he could do about it.

While Mike, Harvey and Donna were going over what was in the bags, Jessica had been on the phone with a client. It seemed that she needed to head out for a little while. She politely waited for them to finish before interrupting. "I have to head out for a little while so Mike will need to go to your office," she said to Harvey.

"That's fine," Harvey agreed. "Come on, Mike," he said as he headed out the door, expecting Mike to follow.

Mike watched him go, before getting up himself. He was annoyed by all of this and planned to slip off once he was out of the office, but unfortunately Donna was right behind him the whole way. "I don't need a babysitter!" Mike said, annoyed.

"Sure, you don't," Donna said patronizingly as she herded Mike into Harvey's office. As she watched Mike go in and pout on Harvey's couch, she couldn't help but think that this was going to be a very long day and it was only 7 am.


	9. Lunch at the Office

Chapter 9

Mike sat on the couch in Harvey's office debating how long it would take for Harvey to find a reason to fire him. Mike knew that Harvey didn't want a child working for him and that the only reason he was still here was because Jessica was defending him and he knew that if Harvey found a reason that would warrant legally getting rid of him then Harvey would. Mike hated this waiting; it was stupid and a pointless game to toy with him. He sat there for a couple of hours before he was ready to go insane from boredom, giving in he searched through the bag for a book, reading a kids book was better than being bored he reasoned. It took a few minutes but eventually he settled on ender's game.

Donna looked up from her work every so often to check on Mike and she was pleased when she looked up and saw him huddled on the couch with a book open in his hands.

Everything was quiet in Harvey's office for a couple of hours. Donna sat at her desk working and occasionally getting up to run an errand or two, Harvey was working on a big case at his desk and Mike was reading a book curled up on Harvey's couch. Everything was calm and quiet and it was nice, until Louis came barging in while Donna was on one of her errands.

"Harvey have you seen Mike? He's not at his desk and I can't find him, I need him to proof some files for me" Louis said somewhat irritated at the inability to locate the man in question.

Mike looked up from his book and over at Louis and Harvey. Harvey looked from Mike to Louis, "Mike's not working today" Harvey said.

"What do you mean not working today? He wasn't working yesterday! Honestly that boy is becoming lazier by the day" Louis said agitated.

"I'm not lazy!" Mike exclaimed.

"Mike" Harvey admonished him for the interruption.

"Mike?" Louis asked confused, turning to look at the kid curled up on the couch. When he had walked in Louis had just assumed that the boy was some clients kid that Harvey was watching, it had never occurred to him that the boy was actually Mike. Upon taking a further look Louis had to admit that the kid was Mike but he just looked so much younger than he had the last time Louis had seen him. "What are you doing just sitting there? And where's your suit?" he asked annoyed.

"Louis, Mike is doing what he's been told and you need to leave now" Harvey said.

"Harvey, Mike is an associate at this firm and he is just sitting there doing nothing. If you aren't going to use him I've got lots of work for him to do" Louis said.

"And what work would that be?" Jessica asked as she walked into the office.

"I have numerous files that need to be proofed and I need him to listen to and then transcribe a box of tapes" Louis said.

"That seems a bit much for one associate to be doing alone" Jessica said.

"He's the fastest" Louis said.

"And what are the others doing?" Harvey asked.

"The work that I've given them" Louis answered.

"Well you'll just have to given them more because Mike is unavailable for a little while" Jessica said.

"What do you mean he's unavailable?" Louis asked, "he's sitting right over there doing nothing"

"Mike is doing as instructed" Jessica said, "and that's all you need to know. Now I believe you have work to pass out among the other associates"

"I can do it" Mike said.

"NO!" came the unanimous exclamation from Harvey, Jessica and Donna (who came in over the intercom).

Mike slumped back on the couch with his usual pout. This was stupid, if Louis had work to do and he was just sitting there then why couldn't he work?

Louis wasn't stupid enough to agree with Mike after such a loud and strict refusal from three people he let it be and stormed out of the room. Once Louis was gone Mike spoke up "I could've done the work you know?" Mike said irritatedly.

"You are to be relaxing and getting better" Jessica said as she walked over to Mike holding the wrappings for his arm. "Hold still now" she said.

Mike watched her lay the items out on the table and he started to move away. "My arm is fine, it doesn't need to be cleaned, I haven't got it dirty" he said.

"Mike just hold still and let her work" Harvey said as he walked over and sat down to Mike's right.

"It doesn't need to be cleaned" he said again as he continued to try to scoot away. Unfortunately Mike soon bumped into Harvey who grabbed his shoulders and held him still for Jessica.

Mike squirmed throughout, his arm was infected and he didn't like that whenever someone touched it with any pressure it hurt. "All done" Jessica said when she had wrapped the ace-wrap back around Mike's arm.

Harvey let go of Mike's shoulders then brought the back of his hand up to Mike's forehead to check his temperature. "You've still got a fever" Harvey said.

Mike yanked his head away from Harvey, "I know that" he growled.

"There's no need to be snippy" Donna said as she walked in with a take out bag. "I've brought lunch" she said.

Donna laid out four takeout containers, three coffees and then grabbed an apple juice from the mini-fridge for Mike. "Let's eat" Jessica said taking a seat at the table.

Mike tried to sit at one of the places with a coffee but he was quickly redirected to the spot with the juice by a hand on his shoulder. Mike sighed as he sat down, it had been worth a shot but he'd known that the odds were slim. He looked over what they had gotten him, it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some chips, some grapes and an apple juice, oh joy. "I'm really not all that hungry" he said. It was his mantra but in truth he really didn't care if he ate right now, he knew that he couldn't tell when he was hungry and that it wasn't good but he'd just never taken the time to fix the issue. OK if he were honest with himself he'd never had the funds to fix the issue but had always meant to looks like now he wasn't being given a choice. It was funny when he thought about it, up until these three started forcing him to eat he'd been wanting to get into a regular habit of doing so. Now he just wanted to annoy them.

"I don't care, you're eating" Harvey stated.

"No I'm not" Mike said as he pushed the food away.

"Mike we're not in the mood, just eat your lunch" Jessica said as she pushed the food back in front of Mike.

"NO!" Mike said. He picked up the container planning to throw it across the room into the trash or against the wall but Harvey took it from him before he could do so.

Harvey yanked the container from Mike and placed it down roughly in front of the boy. "You try that again and I'll hold you down and force this into you. Do you understand?" he growled.

Mike gulped, he hadn't expected that "Yes" he said meekly.

"Harvey you're scaring him" Donna admonished. She hadn't liked what Mike was planning either but they had all seen the scars, the last thing she wanted to do was make the boy afraid of them.

"He needs to eat" Harvey insisted. He hadn't meant to be so rough with Mike he'd just been upset.

"Why do you care?" Mike asked, "I thought you didn't care about anything"

Harvey, Donna and Jessica all stopped eating and looked at Mike. He had sounded sincere and he looked as though he really meant it. "We care about you" Jessica answered.

"Why?" Mike asked, "You didn't before"

They all looked at each other lost for words, they had cared about Mike before but not like now and they knew it. It wasn't that they hadn't cared for the kid it was just that they hadn't know that he was a kid and for some reason that seemed to bring forth the protector in all of them. Mike was an employee at the firm but he was also theirs, all of theirs. It seemed that in the short amount of time that in the past six months that Mike had been working here he'd managed to worm his way into Donna and Harvey's lives and because Jessica was so watchful of Harvey Mike had also garnered Jessica's attention. Anyone who really got to know him was taken in by his innocence, which was ironic considering all of the horrible things that had happened to him in his past. They had all originally left Mike alone because they thought that he was old enough to take care of himself but it seemed as though they were wrong. Now that they knew the truth they had stopped holding back, they had claimed Mike as their own even if he didn't quite see it yet, how could he, he'd never had a real family before, at least not one that he remembered.

"We've always cared Mike it's just that before we thought that you were old enough to sink or swim on your own but you're just a child. When we found that out we stopped holding back." Donna said.

"You're ours and we don't want to see you hurt" Jessica said.

"I do care about you kid" Harvey said.

Mike looked from one to the other trying to put together what they were saying. He didn't understand it, the only person that had always cared for him was his grandmother and people had done everything they could to keep them apart. It never seemed that he was allowed to be with people that cared about him but rather with people who wanted to hurt him. Bad things always happened to those who cared about Mike and looking around at the three people sitting at the table with him he just didn't think he could stand anything happening to them. "That's not a good idea" he said quietly.

Once again Harvey, Donna and Jessica were stunned, where had that come from? "And why is that sweetie" Donna asked nicely reaching over and laying a hand on Mike's arm.

Mike yanked his hand away and looked down, "Because anyone who cares about me is hurt" he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked.

Mike looked up at her and the look he gave showed nothing but pain, "My parents died and my grandmother's in a nursing home, the courts even saw to it that I was kept away from her" he answered.

"Oh sweetheart" Donna said sympathetically. She walked over and wrapped Mike in a hug but the kid didn't respond he just sat there stiff as a board.

"None of that was your fault Mike, what happened to your parents was the fault of a drunk driver, your grandmother is an elderly lady and it isn't uncommon for the elderly to fall ill. The courts were just wrong." Harvey said, starting to rub Mike's back.

"Mike no one who cared about you has ever regretted it and neither do we" Jessica said as she came over and ran her hands through Mike's hair.

Mike sat there with the three of them trying to comfort him and he started to feel quite warm, comfortable, and oddly enough, safe. He didn't know when it had happened but soon he was asleep and resting his head on Donna's shoulder.

"I think he's out" Donna said as looked down at Mike.

"Yeah, he's asleep" Jessica agreed.

"Here, I got this" Harvey said. He stood up and reached for Mike, he put one arm under Mike's knees and used the other to support his back. Harvey picked Mike up and carried him over to the couch and laid him out.

Donna put one of the throw pillows under Mike's head and Jessica put a throw blanket over the boy. When they were done all three of them stepped back to watch the sleeping boy. Mike looked so young and peaceful when he was asleep, they couldn't help but smile, the kid just looked too cute.

"What does a person have to go through to truly believe that he doesn't deserve to be loved?" Donna asked quietly.

"I don't know but we'll do everything we can to fix this" Harvey said, "We will fix this"

"We'll fix this and then we'll never let this happen again" Jessica said.

They all stood there for another minute before turning back to their lunch and letting Mike sleep.


	10. Confrontation

Chapter 10

Mike woke up slowly.

He knew that he wasn't at Jessica's because he wasn't on a bed, but he knew that he wasn't at his own place. Whatever he was on was too soft to be his cot. The question was: where was he?

He stayed quiet, knowing from experience that it was best to stay quiet and keep still until he knew where he was and who was there. Unless there was an immediate danger, of course. He laid there for a few minutes, before he heard Donna's voice over the intercom. Then he knew where he was. He was in Harvey's office.

Now that he knew where he was, Mike opened his eyes and saw that he was facing the back of Harvey's couch. He didn't remember laying down. As he sat up, a blanket fell off him and he noticed that there was also a pillow where his head used to be.

"I was beginning to wonder when you would wake up," Harvey said when he saw Mike sit up.

"Huh?" Mike asked.

"Oh, good. You're up," Donna said as she came in. "You must be hungry. I brought you your lunch," she said, placing it down on the coffee table in front of him.

Mike looked down at it, then up at Donna. He couldn't honestly say that he was hungry, but then, he couldn't honestly say that he wasn't. He was still groggy from waking up and in no mood for a fight, so he just picked up the sandwich and ate it.

When Mike was finished, Donna reached down and ruffled his hair. "I knew you were hungry," she said happily.

Mike pulled away unhappily and looked around for the book he'd been reading before Louis had walked into the room.

"Mike," Harvey said.

Mike looked over at Harvey. He was gathering things in his briefcase and looked as though he were getting ready to head out. "You leaving?" he asked.

"Yep," Harvey said. "So I need you to head over to Jessica's office for a few hours."

"Great," Mike said sarcastically. He returned to looking for his book.

"Let's go," Donna said, coming over to him.

"Go where?" Mike asked.

"You're going to Jessica's office, remember? I just told you two minutes ago," Harvey said. How could Mike have forgotten already? They'd literally just discussed it.

"I don't need a babysitter," Mike said indignantly while still searching for the book.

"What are you looking for?" Donna asked.

"The book," Mike answered.

"You'll have to be a little more specific, kid. We got you quite a few books," Harvey said. He was more than willing to help Mike, but he needed to know more before he could help search. If Mike wanted to sit and read, then Harvey was all for it.

"Ender's Game," Mike answered.

Once they knew what they were looking for, Harvey and Donna joined the search. They found the book behind the couch a couple minutes later. "Here it is. Now let's go," Donna said, grabbing the book and heading out the door.

"Hey!" Mike called, getting up to follow. "I need that!" Donna ignored Mike and headed straight for Jessica's office. She knew Mike would follow the book.

Mike followed Donna down the hall. He was fully intent on following her until he got his book back, but he was stopped by Kyle, Seth and Devon.

"Going somewhere, Ross?" Seth asked.

Mike sighed. He knew that these three were the leaders in the 'I hate Mike Ross' club and he really wasn't in the mood to deal with them. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Nothing much," Kyle answered. "Just wondering when we started a casual day here at work."

"Or when we started having naptime," Devon said.

"Or when working meant sitting on a couch and reading while others are handed the work that you were supposed to be doing," Seth said.

All three of them started stepping a bit closer each time they spoke. By the time they were done, they had Mike backed up against the door to a conference room.

They had all passed by throughout the day and had seen Mike sitting on Harvey's couch, or sleeping on it. They had all been the ones that Louis had passed the work onto and they were all a bit jealous. They didn't like having to do Mike's work, nor did they like that Mike got to do nothing but read and sleep, and it seemed as though Harvey and Jessica were practically obsessed with him. It wasn't fair that he was the newest associate and yet he had the attention of the two most important people in the firm.

"I'm just doing what I'm told," Mike said. He reached behind him and felt for the handle on the door. He knew what he was going to do, but he also knew that he only had one chance for this to work and he had to be quick about it. Before Kyle, Seth or Devon knew what was happening, Mike had opened the door, slipped into the conference room, locked the door, and then ran to the other door. Mike had just managed to get the second door locked by the time that the other three tried to open it.

"You can't hide in there forever, Ross" Seth taunted. "And we've got nowhere to go. We can wait here all day"

"Is that so?" Jessica asked from behind them.

All three men turned to see Jessica Pearson standing behind them with her arms crossed. "Mrs..Mrs. Pearson," Kyle stammered. "We didn't see you there."

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"Not at all, Mrs. Pearson," Seth said. "We were just walking by and noticed that Mr. Ross here had gotten himself locked into the conference room, so we were trying to help him get out."

Jessica looked behind the three of them to Mike who was frantically shaking his head no. "Well, why don't we just ask Mr. Ross, shall we?" she suggested. Jessica signalled for Mike to open the door and, sure enough, the kid was out of the conference room within seconds.

Out of nowhere, Donna appeared by Mike's side and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Come on, you're with me," she said.

"You three need to follow me," Jessica said to Kyle, Seth and Devon.

The three men followed Jessica all the way to Louis' office. Louis looked up as the four of them entered.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked.

"You can deal with your associates," Jessica said.

"What happened?" Louis asked. He could tell that Jessica was irate about something and it clearly had to do with these associates.

"You can find a suitable punishment for these three" Jessica said, gesturing to the three men who had filed in behind her.

"What did they do?" Louis asked.

"They cornered Mike and then scared him enough for him to feel as though he needed to lock himself in the conference room for his own safety. When I came upon, them they were telling Mike that they were willing to keep him trapped in that room all night," Jessica said.

Louis looked from Jessica to his three associates. "They will be dealt with appropriately," he assured her.

"They'd better be," Jessica warned as she left the office, intent on going to check on Mike and make sure that he was OK. She would check on the punishment later, knowing that anything less than being fired wouldn't be enough for them.

As soon as Jessica left, Louis lit into all three of them. He yelled at them for nearly an hour before telling them to pack their things and get out. Threatening a fellow employee was just not something that is allowed or legal in the workplace. He sent them away, telling them that they should be grateful that there would be no charges brought against them. However, the firm would inform all of the other law firms in the state why they were fired.

Jessica walked into her office to find Mike curled up on her couch with Donna sitting on the chair nearby. Donna was rubbing Mike's arm, trying to get him to look at her, but the kid seemed to have just shut down.

"How's he doing?" Jessica asked.

"Not well. He hasn't moved since he sat down," Donna answered. "Those three idiots better be getting fired."

"Oh, they won't be here for much longer," Jessica said.

"Good," Donna said. "Mike, honey, did you hear that? They won't be here any longer. They won't bother you again," she tried to soothe.

Mike didn't react other than to put his arms around his legs and put his head down to rest on his knees.

Donna looked over at Jessica, concerned. Jessica was also worried but like Donna, she didn't know what to do. She'd never handled this kind of thing before. Deciding to just act since she had no other plans, she walked over and sat down next to Mike. She pulled Mike to her and wrapped her arms around him, dislodging Mike's arms from around his legs and putting his head on her shoulder.

Donna let her arms fall when Jessica pulled Mike close. His eyes were visible now and he was just looking straight ahead, but he wasn't really seeing anything. It was as though he was lost in some distant memory and she didn't know how to break him out of that. Deciding to follow Jessica's lead, Donna sat on the other side of Mike and started to run her hands up and down the sides of his legs to let him know that she was there.

"It's OK, Mike. You're safe here, you're safe here," she said over and over.

It took some time but eventually, Mike looked Donna straight in the eye. "Promise?" he asked so quietly that if either hadn't been giving Mike their full attention, they would have missed it.

"Yes," both women exclaimed simultaneously.

"We promise. You are safe with us," Donna soothed.

Mike nodded at this and then leaned his head back on Jessica's shoulder again. Jessica started running her hand through Mike's hair, encouraging him. They sat like that for a few minutes more until Mike pulled away and sat up on the couch. "Sorry," he said.

"It's alright, Mike. You've done nothing wrong and you have nothing to be sorry about," Jessica said.

"They were on me and you shouldn't have had to come and rescue me. I know how to take care of myself. I know better than to let my guard down. I know to always pay attention to my surroundings," Mike said, scolding himself.

"Mike, now, you listen to me," Jessica said, turning Mike to face her. "You have done nothing wrong. There is no shame in needing help to get away from three people who are taller, stronger, and older than you and there is certainly nothing wrong with feeling safe here where you are surrounded by three people who love and care about you very much."

"We want you to feel safe with us," Donna said. "We love you and just want you to be happy, safe and healthy."

Mike looked from one to the other, trying to take in what they were saying, but he was just so drained. Both physically and emotionally. This day had put him through the emotional wringer and it wasn't even 3 o'clock yet. After the ordeal with the other associates, his fever had even started to spike.

"Why don't we clean your arm?" Jessica said.

Mike visibly flinched at that idea. Donna looked around for the supplies, saw the book that Mike had been so worried about earlier and got an idea. "Tell you what. Why don't I read to you while Jessica cleans your arm?" she offered.

Mike looked up at her at that. He liked the idea. He couldn't read himself while he was arm was being cleaned and the story would help to keep his mind off the pain. It was just a small pain and if he was lucky, he would be able to ignore it the whole time.

"OK," he agreed. "I'm on page 100, right after 'don't hurt him anymore than you have to.'"

"Page 100, it is," Donna said as she opened the book. It took a moment before she found where Mike had said and started to read.

Jessica waited until she saw Mike relax and become absorbed in the story to work on Mike's arm. Mike didn't seem to notice what Jessica was doing as he was so absorbed in the story that Donna was telling.

It didn't take long before she was done, but Donna didn't stop reading and Mike never took his eyes off Donna, so Jessica stood up and headed over to her desk, content to let the two of them enjoy the book for as long as possible.


	11. Consequences

Chapter 11

Harvey walked into the office at around 5:30 that evening. He was a bit surprised to see that Donna was not at her desk, but decided to wait a few minutes before going to look for her in case she had just run to the bathroom or the file room for something. Harvey waited impatiently for the next ten minutes before getting up and going to see if Jessica knew where Donna had gotten to.

Harvey walked to Jessica's office and was almost there when Louis stopped him. "What do you want Louis?" he asked annoyed at the interruption.

"Harvey," Louis said a bit nervous. He had just been on his way to inform Jessica of his dealings with Devon, Kyle and Seth. "Look, I just want to say that I'm sorry about what happened with Mike…" Louis started.

"Mike?!" Harvey exclaimed. "What happened to Mike?" How could something have happened to Mike? He was only out of the office for two and a half hours, and he comes back and Louis is apologizing and apparently something is wrong with Mike.

"Mike's f…" Louis started, but he was once again interrupted this time by Jessica opening her office door.

"Boys, I don't think this is a conversation that needs to occur in the middle of the office," she said as she ushered them into the - near - privacy of her office.

As Harvey and Louis walked into Jessica's office, Donna stopped reading and both she and Mike looked up. When Donna saw Louis, she immediately started to question him "What did you do to them? It better have been harsh Louis or I will take it out on you and them," she said.

"It was," Louis assured.

"What's going on?" Harvey asked, starting to become annoyed. When he walked in, he had seen Mike sitting on the couch with Donna. He had his head on her shoulder and she had one arm slung around him, pulling the kid close as she held a book in her hand and was reading to him. Harvey hadn't expected that scene. From what Louis had said, he was expecting Mike to be hurt, but the kid was just eerily silent.

"There was an incident with three of the associates while you were gone," Jessica answered Harvey's question.

"What kind of incident?" Harvey asked as he turned to Louis. The man was in charge of the associates and Harvey had been getting really tired of the way they had been treating Mike before he knew about Mike's age and now Harvey wasn't going to put up with it.

"It seems as though they noticed Mike in your office today and they became jealous that he was allowed to lounge on your couch reading, while they were assigned the paperwork that was supposed to have been given to Mike," Jessica said to Harvey. "Although, giving Mike a stack of work that you then had to spread around six other associates isn't exactly fair or appropriate distribution of labour," she said, turning to Louis.

"What did they do?" Harvey asked Jessica. To Louis, he exclaimed, "Six other associates? Really, Louis?"

"ENOUGH!" Donna yelled. She had been watching them fight as they got more and more agitated, and she knew that all of the yelling wasn't going to help anything. "There are too many conversations going on at once. First discuss what Louis did with the three imbeciles and then discuss Louis loading Mike with obscene amounts of work," she said once she had gotten everyone's attention.

"OK, what did you to do the three associate?" Jessica asked Louis.

"I…" Louis started, but he was interrupted, only this time it was by Mike.

"Why did you have to do anything to them?" Mike asked. He hadn't liked what they had done, but it hadn't been the first time that he had been cornered in a room. Only last time, he had been eight and it had been a tiny closet in an abandoned building that he had been chased into by some older kids who had seen a restaurant employee sneak him some real food.

They had beat the employee within an inch of his life when the man refused to give them any. Then they had hunted Mike down, chased him into that closet, and then shifted guard for three and a half days, before Mike had no choice but to come out or die of dehydration. When Mike came out, he was also beaten, but he was so weak that they didn't hit him for too long. It had taken Mike two weeks to fully recover. In Mike's point of view, what Kyle, Seth and Devon had done hadn't been all that bad, other than the stupid reminder they'd given him.

"They threatened you and trapped you in a conference and then said that they were happy to wait until you came out so that they could continue," Jessica said.

"They did what?!" Harvey yelled.

"They've been dealt with," Louis assured.

"They didn't need to be dealt with," Mike insisted.

"That's it!" Donna said, loudest of all, and once again, she had the attention of everyone in the room. "This is ridiculous! No one is getting anywhere!" she said. Turning to Mike, Donna started, "What they did to you was anything but alright, and there has to be consequences for that kind of behaviour or they'll soon end up in jail," she explained.

Donna waited for Mike to give some sort of reaction. "But what they did wasn't really that bad. I've had worse," Mike said.

That was not what any of them expected nor wanted to hear. "Worse?" Louis choked out.

Mike looked up a little startled; he had forgotten that Louis was there in the midst of everything. "Nothing," he said quickly.

Harvey, Jessica and Donna were willing to let this drop for now because they knew that they were never going to get an answer from Mike with Louis in the room. Louis, on the other hand, wanted an explanation if for no other reason than sheer curiosity. However, a pointed look from Jessica and a nudge from Harvey kept him quiet.

"Just because worse things have happened doesn't make what they did any less wrong," Harvey said to Mike.

Mike stared at Harvey for a few moments, warring with himself, before asking quietly, "Then what does it make what happened before?"

"Something that never should have happened and something that should have been dealt with back then. I'm sure it would have put a few people into jail," Jessica said.

Mike was silent after that and Donna made the decision that the kid really didn't need to be here for this. They were all used to Mike joining them during important conversations, but this was just too much. Mike was a kid and they needed to remember that. A conversation like this wasn't something that he could be apart of anymore; they were going to have to monitor certain things around Mike from now on.

Donna decided to start here. "Alright, well, Mike and I will be heading out while the three of you talk," she said.

Mike whipped his head around to look at Donna. "I'm not going anywhere," he said.

"Mike, head over to my office. I'll be there in a little while," Harvey said. He also believed that Mike shouldn't be in the room. Not after Mike's outburst when he learned that Louis had punished the other associates.

"I'm not going anywhere. I want to know what happened to Kyle, Seth and Devon," Mike stated.

"Michael," Jessica said. "Go with Donna to Harvey's office," she ordered.

Mike looked from Harvey to Jessica and then to Donna, hoping that one of them would relent, but none did. Harvey and Jessica just stood waiting for him to go and Donna stood next to him, waiting for Mike to stand up.

"No," Mike said.

"Wasn't an option, kiddo," Donna said as she grabbed Mike's arm and started dragging him out of the room. Much to Mike's annoyance Donna won and he soon found himself on his was to Harvey's office.

Once Mike and Donna had left, Harvey and Jessica turned back to Louis. "I lectured to them, I fired them and then I made it so that they can't get a job anywhere in this state," Louis said quickly.

Harvey and Jessica thought about this for a moment. It wasn't a bad punishment at all. Louis really had handled this. "Good," Jessica said.

Louis breathed a sigh of relief, but that ended once Harvey spoke, "Now, why is it that you give Mike work that gets passed out between at least six other associates?" Harvey said.

Louis gulped. "Mike's the best associate in the firm," he said honestly. "The kid gets more work done in an hour than the rest of them can do in a day, so I give him more."

"He's also my associate!" Harvey exclaimed, "While he can get more work done, he also already has work from me. All you're doing is overloading the kid."

"This is going to stop," Jessica said.

"But he does more work than the others. Things get done faster with Mike around. We're actually caught up on out paperwork," Louis reasoned.

"Paperwork is not more important than a person's health, Louis. We were doing fine before Mike came, and he is not required in order to get things done around here. I'm not saying that Mike isn't a great asset, but he isn't the only associate we have," Jessica said.

"I work him no harder than I worked as an associate," Louis said.

"But you were an adult in his late twenties whereas Mike's just a kid!" Harvey said.

"What do you mean?" Louis asked. He knew that Harvey and Donna often referred to Mike as 'the kid,' but Louis just figured that had to do with Mike being younger than the two of them. Louis would admit that Mike looked younger than the other associates, but not by much. That was, until today. Today, Mike looked as though he would fit in at the local high school.

Harvey just about slapped himself; he had just basically told Louis that Mike was really a child. He was about to correct himself when he realized that this wasn't really a required secret. Mike wouldn't be fired just because he was eighteen since he had a real degree from Harvard Law School. The only reason he was debating this was because Mike didn't like his own age. "He's eighteen," Harvey said.

"He's how old?" Louis asked.

"You've heard of the teenager who tested out of Harvard, right?" Jessica asked him.

"Yeah," Louis said, "Who hasn't? The kid's a legend, first person to ever test out, and the youngest person to ever graduate."

"Well, that person's Mike," Harvey said.

"What?" Louis asked, "Is this a joke?"

"No," Jessica answered, "We're serious, Mike is eighteen. He really is that kid. I did the background checks myself."

Louis paused. He hadn't known Mike's age. He treated Mike like every other associate because he had thought that Mike was like every other associate. "I didn't know," he said.

"We know. However, you know the truth now, so I expect you to cut back on the amount of work you assign Mike," Harvey said. He couldn't be too upset with Louis since he was also guilty of overloading Mike. Granted, not as badly, but still.

"If you give Mike the same amount that you give the others then everything should work out. He's still a fast worker, so it shouldn't be too much work," Jessica said.

"Agreed," Louis said.

With the discussion over, Louis left and Harvey turned to Jessica. "What do you say we get Mike out of here in about an hour? We can go to my place and I'll make dinner," he said.

"Agreed, only we'll go to my place since that's where Mike is staying," Jessica said.

"Agreed," Harvey said and then he left Jessica's office and headed towards his own. As Harvey walked into his office, he heard Donna and Mike arguing.


	12. Conclusion

Chapter 12

"You had no right," Mike yelled at Donna. He was red-faced and was standing in the middle of Harvey's office facing off against Donna, who had her arms crossed in front of her and a rather irritated expression on her face.

"I had every right and you need to calm down," Donna said. Harvey was surprised that she was being as polite as she was, considering how livid she looked.

"What's going on?" Harvey asked. Really, he was beginning to grow tired of having to figure things out after they had happened. Why couldn't he just be present during one of the issue, or better yet, not have any issues happen?

"What happened!" Mike exclaimed, turning to Harvey. "What happened is that she," he pointed at Donna, "Is being an overbearing dictator and trying to control who I can and can't talk to," Mike fumed.

"She's too old for you. If you weren't trying to date her, I'd let you. But you don't want to be her friend, you want to be her boyfriend, and that's not going to happen," Donna told Mike.

"This is about Rachael?" Harvey asked, finally starting to catch on.

"Yes!" Mike exclaimed.

"Harvey, deal with this," Donna said as she walked out. Donna couldn't deal with Mike right now. He was being a child and while she was willing to treat him like one, she wasn't used to Mike throwing an all-out tantrum. Because that's what it was - a tantrum.

Harvey watched Donna walk out, before turning back to Mike. So this whole blow-up was over Rachael? Harvey had to agree. The girl was too old for Mike; everyone at the firm is too old for Mike. He sighed as he watched the kid. Mike looked upset and tense. Yeah, this was gonna be a fun conversation. "Mike," he started.

"She can't just tell me who I can and can't date! It's none of her business," Mike yelled, stamping his foot and cutting Harvey off.

Harvey was willing to hear the kid out, but not if he was going to rant instead of talk. "Sit down," Harvey ordered. For a second, he thought that Mike would fight him on just about everything right now. However, Mike did eventually sit down, much to Harvey's relief. "Now, we need to talk about Rachael," he said, sitting down across from Mike in a chair.

"We don't need to talk about Rachael. You and Donna just need to stay out of it," Mike said, irritated. It was his life and he liked Rachael. As far as he was concerned, there should be nothing more to say on the matter. Yes, there was about a nine-to-ten year age gap between him and Rachael, but she was smart, fun and cute.

"She's ten years older than you are. You're not dating her," Harvey stated simply.

"It's not up to you," Mike said.

"No, it's up to Rachael," Harvey agreed.

Mike smiled at that. Rachael didn't know about the age gap and she was just as interested in Mike as he was in her.

Harvey knew what Mike was thinking. He also knew what he had meant. "She has the right to make her own decisions. However, they will be made after she knows the truth," he said.

Mike's smile instantly fell. He wasn't an idiot and he knew exactly what Harvey meant by 'the truth'. "That's not fair," he said.

"How so?" Harvey asked. "Why isn't it fair that Rachael know everything about the person that she wants to date? About you."

Mike sat there, irritated. He knew that Harvey had a point, but he wasn't going to admit it. He didn't want Rachael or anyone to know about his age for a reason. Harvey, Jessica and Donna were a prime example of that very reason. "She'll treat me like a kid," he finally huffed out.

"You are a kid," Harvey said, standing up. He could tell that Mike was unhappy with what he'd said, but he could also tell that the boy was going to let it be - for now, at least - because he didn't want others to know his secret.

Harvey watched Mike sulk for a few minutes, before picking up the book that Donna had left on the table and brought it over to Mike. "Here," he said, holding it out.

Mike looked up at the book in Harvey's hand. "Thanks," he said, taking it. He had been enjoying the book and he did want to finish it - there was only about fifty pages left.

Everyone went back to their original positions before lunch. Harvey was working at his desk, Donna at hers, and Mike was curled up on the couch reading. Everything was going well until Mike finished his book, then he was bored again. At first, it was nothing - just a few sighs and some tapping - but soon it really started to annoy Harvey.

"Will you cut that out?!" Harvey said, looking up at Mike from his work.

Mike stopped what he was doing and gave Harvey such an innocent look that the man honestly had to wonder for a second if Mike had even known that he was annoying Harvey.

But this was Mike, and Harvey knew that, while he was just a kid, he was also a rather decent con artist. Just look at how he'd conned Harvey into hiring him and then conned everyone into believing that he was twenty-seven rather than eighteen. Oh, Mike had known that what he was doing would annoy Harvey to no end, that's why he was doing it.

"Mike, what happened to your book?" Donna asked, walking into the office.

"I finished it," Mike answered.

"Then find another," Harvey said, annoyed.

"I don't want to read a children's book," Mike said.

Donna walked over and searched through the bag. She could have sworn that there was some type of sequel to that book in there. It took her a moment, but she found it. She stood with a triumphant look and a book in her hand when she turned to Mike. "Here," she said, holding it out to him.

Mike looked at the cover of the book before taking it. The book was 'Ender's Shadow.' If he were a guessing man, he would say that it was a continuation of the book that he'd just read, especially since it was by the same author.

He quickly snatched the book out of Donna's hand and settled back down to read.

Donna looked pleased with herself as she turned to head out and Harvey shot her a thankful look for quieting the kid up. They all stayed there for the next half hour, before Donna came in to say that the car was here and it was time to go. Mike wasn't happy about being made to stop reading, but he was happy to be going, so he stashed his book into one of his pockets and then followed Harvey out.

Mike, Donna and Harvey met up with Jessica at the car and they all headed towards Jessica's house. Mike sighed when he saw where they were going. He really just wanted to go back to his place and wake up to realize that this whole thing had just been some twisted dream, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Can't I just go home?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"No," Jessica said simply.

Mike huffed, but let it go. They arrived soon after and all got out.

"Mike, why don't you play a game or watch a movie?" Donna suggested as pushed Mike towards the living room and then followed Harvey and Jessica into the kitchen.

"But I don…" Mike said, but he trailed off as he realized that no one was with him any longer. He sighed and sat down on the couch. He knew already that Jessica kept her house locked up tight and if he were to even attempt to get out, the alarms would sound and all three of them would be on him.

He decided that escape wasn't worth the knowledge that, once they found out, he'd never be alone again and instead just basked in the fact that he was alone at the moment with no one watching him.

It was nice. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed getting time to himself until he had lost it. Most of his life, he'd been alone. It wasn't the best idea to keep in a group if you wanted to be able to come and go quickly when you lived on the streets. Sure, a group can offer protection; there was strength in numbers. However, a group can also offer a liability.

They were someone to care about when you needed to bolt, and someone to protect from cops and other groups, and more mouths to feed when you could barely feed yourself. No, a group offered more problems than they were worth in Mike's opinion, so he'd just stayed away from them. Of course, that meant that he was alone most of the time.

Over the years, he had grown accustomed to being alone and in fact had gone for a little over a year without speaking once. After all that time to himself, he had found himself missing it when he was at work, and even more so these past few days, because lately he hadn't even been able to go home and escape.

After allowing his thoughts to wonder for a time, Mike eventually looked around the room to see what games Donna had meant. It didn't take long before he found the PS3 and the group of about ten games that were lying next to it. Mike smiled. He'd never played the latest thing before. The closest he'd come was a Nintendo 64 - this would be neat.

Harvey, Donna and Jessica were all in the kitchen talking about Hardman and what the man's plans could be. They all knew that he wasn't just going to let things go - not after he'd made that speech in the office. The only question was what Hardman was planning. As they talked, Harvey cooked dinner and every so often either Donna or Jessica would take a peek into the living room to see what Mike was up to. They were pleased to see that he was playing a game as Donna had suggested.

They had all agreed that it would be good for Mike to get to be a kid. The boy had been forced to fend for himself for as long as he could remember, and he had never had the chance to just relax and be a kid.

He'd never been allowed to know that he was safe and that others were going to take care of him and his needs. He'd never known what it meant to be safe. Mike's grandmother had done her best to protect the boy, but all she could do was call in and report it when she suspected that Mike was being abused, and soon she wasn't allowed visitation with Mike because she called so many times and everyone started to relate her to the boy who called wolf.

After Mike had finally gotten emancipated, he had moved in with his grandmother, but by then, she was starting to have problems and Mike was left being responsible for her care.

He had used the money he got to pay for college and tested out, and then used the rest to pay for rent and utilities and food for his Edith. By the time he was done, there was next to nothing left to feed himself. It wasn't long before Mike had to start taking LSAT's for others in order to pay for a nursing home, and he was doing any odd job he could find in order to pay his own rent in the world's worst apartment.

Donna had done some research into the emancipation because she just couldn't see how a fourteen-year old street kid could become emancipated. It wasn't all that surprising when she learned that Mike had been his own council, nor did it come as a shock that he had had Judge Povel, who was well known for being the least caring judge in the juvenile division.

Mike had merely conned the judge and gotten his way, which wasn't difficult since, as long as you could get a place to live, you were to be emancipated in Judge Povel's eyes. Mike had brought Edith and he had seen to it that he'd gotten Judge Povel. He had gotten emancipated in less then five minutes - a record pace.

Soon the meal was made, and Jessica had collected Mike - who was irritated at having his game interrupted - from the living room. All sat around the table to eat. Mike required a lot of prodding, but he eventually cleaned his plate. Mike had to admit though - he found that he had slept rather peacefully the past couple of times that he had gone to sleep full, and he knew that they would insist he go to sleep soon, if their previous behaviour was anything to go by, so he didn't put up too much of a fight.

Mike was correct.

As soon as the meal was cleaned up, Jessica sent Mike to shower and get ready for bed. Mike sighed and did as he was told, knowing that it would do no good to argue and, honestly, he didn't want to. His fever was still present and Harvey cleaned his shoulder once he was done showering. He was given his pill and took it, knowing that it always helped a little with the pain while he slept. He wondered if the doctor had combined the antibiotic with a mild painkiller.

Mike didn't even argue going to bed, because he really was tired. He was still sick and he became tired more easily than he had when he was feeling well.

As Mike fell into a deep sleep, Harvey, Jessica, and Donna talked in the living room. They knew that it would take a while, but they were happy with what they had accomplished so far.

Mike was doing better, but there was still a long way to go. However, they knew that if they stuck together then they would be able to help him. Things would go slowly, but they would get better, and they would succeed both in helping Mike and getting rid of Hardman - of that, they were sure.

They could do anything so long as they stuck together.

The End… For Now.


	13. Chapter 13

Sequel is now up.


End file.
